Team Rundown: Friday 2003 Hungarian GP

By Andrew Hooper
August 22 2003

 

 

  
Team Rundown - Friday Qualifying
 
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Rubens Barrichello 5th, Michael Schumacher 9th.

"We had a good balance for the morning session," said technical director Ross Brawn, "but it was not so good in the afternoon. The running order here is more important than at the other circuits and I think that was shown from the times that we achieved."

Michael Schumacher confirmed that he was handicapped by having to run early in the session. "It was a disadvantage to go out early when the track was extremely dusty but the good thing is that we seem to be competitive in comparison to McLaren and Williams."

Rubens Barrichello said that he had been surprised by a change of the handling between the morning and afternoon sessions. "I had a good lap but after the morning session I expected to have some understeer and I found out that I had oversteer."

BMW WilliamsF1 Team: Ralf Schumacher 2nd, Juan Pablo Montoya 8th.

"We had problems with the set-up this morning," said Ralf Schumacher, "but the changes we made were the right ones and I am quite happy. Today's qualifying confirms that there is a big disadvantage in running first because there is less grip."

Juan Pablo Montoya was not very happy with his qualifying run. "It was not an ideal lap," he said. "I braked too early for the first corner and the balance was not perfect. I lost seven-tenths of a second compared to the morning and I think i had a real disadvantage because I was running early in the session."

The team's senior operations engineer Sam Michael said that it is not yet clear where the teams are in relation to one another. "It is difficult to judge the pace of the cars because of the dramatic changes in grip during the session."

West McLaren Mercedes: David Coulthard 4th, Kimi Raikkonen 12th.

It was a day of mixed fortunes for McLaren with Coulthard outshining Raikkonen on this occasion.

"I had a nice tidy lap," said Coulthard. "I was a bit too tentative in the first corner but overall it has been a good start to the weekend. I hope that the new track layout will allow more overtaking. I think it is going to be very dirty off the racing line and so that might have an effect."

Raikkonen made a mistake in the final sector and ran very wide and consequently was much further back than expected.

"The circuit surface was very dirty," said team boss Ron Dennis. "That really affected the lap times of the first three or four runners. You can see that from the lap times. We had a trouble-free session and so we are looking forward with optimism to tomorrow, which is when it really counts."

Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: Jarno Trulli 1st, Fernando Alonso 6th.

Jarno Trulli was fastest overall in qualifying.

"I am very pleased with my position," said Jarno, "but not with the balance of my car. We did not get much information from the morning testing because of the track conditions and it was still very slippery in the afternoon session."

Fernando Alonso lost some time in the testing because of an engine failure. "The balance of the cars is far from perfect," said Pat Symonds. "Fernando lost time today and normally he ought to be able to match Jarno's time."

Sauber Petronas: Nick Heidfeld 10th, Heinz-Harald Frentzen 11th.

There was some optimism at Sauber with both drivers doing well despite neither getting a perfect lap.

"I think we have made some good progress," said Frentzen, "particularly in comparison to BAR. My first sector time was really good but maybe I pushed the tyres a bit too hard too soon."

Nick Heidfeld admitted to having made a mistake. "I made an error in the first sector and lost six-tenths of a second when I was on the dusty part of the track," he said. "But after that I am relatively pleased with the way it went."

Jordan Ford: Giancarlo Fisichella 16th, Ralph Firman 17th.

It was a disappointing day for Jordan with Giancarlo Fisichella having two engine failures.

"I only got seven laps in testing this morning," he said. "That meant I had little time to work on the car and the tyre evaluation. I was in the spare car for the whole day and that really did not help."

It was Ralph Firman's first visit to Hungary and he spent his time getting to know the track. "I was a bit cautious on my qualifying lap," he admitted. "I was just not quick enough."

The team's chief engineer said that the problem was a general lack of grip. "There is little to report really apart from the two engine failures," said Gary Anderson. "The problem is a lack of grip."

Jaguar Racing: Mark Webber 3rd, Justin Wilson 15th.

It was a day of mixed fortunes for Jaguar with Mark Webber an impressive third quickest but Justin Wilson losing out with a gearbox problem which resulted in liquid leaking out on to his rear tyres.

"It kept me on my toes," said Wilson. "As soon as I was done I switched the engine off and parked the car."

"Mark did a fantastic job," said team boss Tony Purnell. "Justin had a problem which we could see right from the start of the lap and it made it very lively for him."

Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Jenson Button 13th, Jacques Villeneuve 14th.

It was a disappointing day for BAR.

"We changed the car before the qualifying session," said Button "and we went the wrong way. I was struggling with oversteer and I had a big slide in Turn 1 and that got me off to the worst possible start. Obviously with no rear end grip we were struggling on an already dirty track."

Villeneuve was also disappointed. "I had no grip," said Jacques. "It was disappointing because we wanted a good result today so that we are not out too early in qualifying tomorrow because the track conditions here are so critical."

European Minardi Cosworth: Jos Verstappen 18th, Nicolas Kiesa 19th.

"The day started well," said Paul Stoddart. "We were quickest Bridgestone runners in the testing. But then Nicolas had a monumental engine failure and that meant he lost the morning session and he had to qualify in the T-car. All in all qualifying was much as we expected. It is true we have a problem with tyres and we have to use the hard compound but had it not been for a mistake at Turn 1 Jos would have been quicker than Firman."

Panasonic Toyota Racing: Olivier Panis 7th, Cristiano da Matta 20th.

Cristiano da Matta lost his chance of a good time with a spin at the end of his lap.

"It was very strange," he explained. "I am not sure what happened. It was odd how the car spun. Maybe there was something wrong in the traction-control."

Olivier Panis was fastest in the morning and was happy with the seventh fastest time in qualifying but he felt he could have gone even quicker. "The balance of the car was still good this afternoon," said Panis. "We just lost grip. I don't know why."

Bridgestone: Hisao Suganuma: "I think we suffered today from the track conditions especially when Michael went out as the track was still very dirty. The conditions were better when Rubens was out and he managed to do a reasonable lap time but not quick enough."

Michelin: Pascal Vasselon: "The Hungaroring was a track where Michelin was not competitive in 2002. We have obviously made big progress and we are delighted we have four cars in the top four."
 
 
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