Team Rundown: Saturday 2003 German GP

By Andrew Hooper
August 3 2003

 

 

  
Team Rundown - Saturday Qualifying
 
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Rubens Barrichello 3rd, Michael Schumacher 6th.

Michael Schumacher had a disappointing qualifying but his strategy of running the harder tyres from Bridgestone may come good on Sunday when the temperatures are expected to be very high.

"It was not my best qualifying," Michael said. "The handling of the car was not perfect but I am still optimistic for the race as we have good tyre consistency and the lap times show that I can fight with Kimi."

Ross Brawn said that Raikkonen was the target for the team. "Michael is pretty close to his main rival Kimi Raikkonen and that is what counts for us. He had a balance problem in the second sector that is why he is so far back on the grid."

Barrichello was running on softer tyres. "I changed the set-up overnight and I took it easy in the first sector and so was able to conserve them for the whole lap. That was the best that I could get from the car."


BMW WilliamsF1 Team: Juan Pablo Montoya 1st, Ralf Schumacher 2nd.

The two Williams-BMW drivers were very closely-matched in qualifying but it was Montoya who took pole position.

"It is no surprise for me that we are so strong," said Montoya. "Aerodynamically we are on the same level as Ferrari and on top of that we have a tyre advantage. It is also important that we are able to find the right set-up much more quickly than we did earlier in the season."

Ralf Schumacher lost pole when he had understeer in the last two corners. "Ferrari looked very consistent this morning," he said. "We should not underestimate them."

West McLaren Mercedes: Kimi Raikkonen 5th, David Coulthard 10th.

Kimi Raikkonen was fifth fastest and reckoned that he might have gone a bit faster.

"It was not my best lap ever," he said. "But we will have to see how things go tomorrow."

David Coulthard was 10th quickest but in the circumstances was not too upset. "I had to use the T-car after the crash this morning. It did not feel as good as the race car and I had particular problems in the low-speed corners. This affected the overall lap time but as I am now pretty experienced at driving through field it should be all right in the race tomorrow!"

Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: Jarno Trulli 4th, Fernando Alonso 8th.

"Jarno did an excellent lap," said Pat Symonds. "His is showing excellent form at the moment. That enabled him to get on to the second row, which is perfect for our strategy. Fernando had technical problems and was 8kph slower on the straight and it seems that he alos had brake problems. We think we have made the right choice of tyres. We will be on the limit that is for sure but that is what racing is all about."

Sauber Petronas: Heinz-Harald Frentzen 14th, Nick Heidfeld 15th.

"I am pleased to have done a lap without a mistake today," he said. "The first sector felt especially good but overall it was a pretty good lap."

Nick Heidfeld was less happy. "I am still unhappy with the balance of the car," he said. "This morning, running on scrubbed tyres seemed to help so I was hoping that it would work in qualifying but in the end it did not give the answer I was looking for. I had a lot of understeer."

Jordan Ford: Giancarlo Fisichella 12th, Ralph Firman 18th.

"I am happier today because the car felt reasonably good," said Giancarlo Fisichella. "The balance was OK and I would like to think that we could score a point or two tomorrow. But that may be difficult."

Ralph Firman found that the handling of his car had changed. "Suddenly I had a lot of oversteer," he said. "It was a pity because beforehand it was feeling good. In the end it was a pretty messy lap for me."

The team had a new step engine for qualifying.

Jaguar Racing: Mark Webber 11th, Justin Wilson 16th.

"Yesterday was a great day for us," said Jaguar boss Tony Purnell. "Today was a bit more of a disappointment. The drivers made some mistakes and you have to expect a bit of that in the course of a season. Racing is all about what could have been, isn't it?"

Webber had a good lap until the final sector. "It was mega," he said. But at the second to last corner I asked too much of the rear end and it didn't like it and I guess I lost something like three-tenths. I wanted to try and be around the same sort of time as Da Matta and until the mistake it was good."

Justin Wilson admitted that he pushed too hard as well. "The car was OK but I went too quickly in the last sector and I understeered at the hairpin in the stadium area. I ran wide and then the car came out of the corner on the kerb. I overdid it. I just need to learn a bit more."

Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Jacques Villeneuve 13th, Jenson Button 17th.

Jenson Button was rather disappointed with qualifying as his car had developed oversteer since the warm-up.

"It is strange," said Button. "The car was good and we did not change it but suddenly there was oversteer and that led to me making mistakes. It is disappointing to be 17th because we were hoping to be in the top 10. I just hope that the oversteer disappears before the race, otherwise tomorrow is going to be tough."

Villeneuve made a small mistake in the final sector but is happy with the race set-up of the car.

European Minardi Cosworth: Jos Verstappen 19th, Nicolas Kiesa 20th.

Nicolas Kiesa qualified within a tenth of a second of Verstappen.

"You have to give Nicolas credit for what he did after what happened this morning. He had no experience in qualifying and so it was a pretty good performance. Jos is on a slightly different strategy and it will make for a solid performance in the race and I think a top 10 finish is within our reach. We saw a lot of blistered tyres today and I think that the smart guys are the one who have saved their tyres for the race."

Panasonic Toyota Racing: Olivier Panis 7th, Cristiano da Matta 9th.

Both Toyotas were in the top 10, a good result for the team.

"Both drivers have been working well this weekend and this has helped us to make progress and to get the job done," said Panis. "This equals our best-ever joint qualifying performance from Canada. My car was really good today."

Cristiano da Matta was not so happy with his result. "I was quite angry because I spoiled two good sectors with my mistake coming out of the last corner," he said. "I think that cost me half a second, but I actually only lost one place on the grid and so I am pleased with that."

Bridgestone: Hisao Suganuma: "We did not get pole today but I am pleased anyway to see the two Ferraris on the second and third rows of the grid. I think this shows a big improvement over yesterday."

Michelin: Pierre Dupasquier: "For a while now the Williams-BMWs on our tyres have managed some exceptional performances. we are very happy about that. After this morning we knew that only the Williams-BMWs would be ahead of the Ferraris so we are not disappointed. We think our tyres will be competitive tomorrow although it is a bit hard to follow what Ferrari is up to."
 
 
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