Team Rundown Friday Qualifying Japanese GP

By Andrew Hooper
October 10 2003

   
Team Rundown
 
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Michael Schumacher 3rd, Rubens Barrichello 7th.

"We did not have any problems," said Ross Brawn. "The car is well-balanced but we still have to decide which tyres we are going to use. Neither of the drivers had a perfect lap but that was not really a surprise as neither driver had run on low fuel before qualifying. In that respect Renault has an advantage over us."

Michael Schumacher reckoned that running first was a disadvantage but this was not a huge problem.

"I have to admit that the disadvantage is less here than it is at other tracks," he said. "The changes are not quite what we wanted to achieve. These things always look different when you see them on paper and then in reality. Overtaking is still going to be very difficult and so with everyone so close it is going to be a good fight."


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

It was a tough day for Juan Pablo Montoya with a gearbox problem in the morning meaning that the unit had to be changed and as a result Montoya had only a handful of laps.

"The set-up was not ideal!" said Montoya. "The car was very difficult to drive and I had to push really hard to do the time. Ralf's performance shows that we have the potential to do better but there is a lot of work for me to do tomorrow morning."

Ralf Schumacher was happier but reckoned that there was more to come.

"I had understeer this morning because we go the wrong set-up. The new tyres that we have here are good but we still do have the best setting for the car. We have to work on that. The new 130R corner is still flat but there is a big bump on the apex which makes it quite difficult now. The chicane is better than it was but it is a bit difficult to find the braking point because you come over a crest jsut as you get there."


West McLaren Mercedes: David Coulthard 4th, Kimi Raikkonen 5th.

It was a solid performance for the McLaren team with Coulthard and Raikkonen split by a tenth of a second.

"I was a bit cautious at the hairpin," said David, "and then there was some understeer in the middle of the chicane but overall I am reasonably happy with the balance of the car. The first sector was really good. The chicane is a bit more difficult than it used to be because there are now no reference points. Suzuka is a fantastic place where a driver can really get to grips with the track, but it is a real shame that we get only one flying lap. I wish we could do more. But the is working well."


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

"We started out with a very quick and well-balanced car," said Jarno Trulli. "I had a technical problem during the morning testing and the clutch had to be changed and so I did not do as many laps as I wanted. Having said that this did not really cause me too many problems. We got a lot of good information."

That showed in the afternoon when Trulli took the fastest time. Fernando Alonso however was not as happy, struggling with the handling of his car.


Sauber Petronas: Nick Heidfeld 10th, Heinz-Harald Frentzen 12th.

There was optimism at Sauber with Nick Heidfeld 10th quickest.

"My car was oversteering a lot this morning," he said, " and we didn't actually do much set-up work because we were doing long runs. We changed things for qualifying, and though I still had high-speed oversteer the car felt better. I'm pleased with a top 10 position, especially because a good grid position will be essential for us to defend our fifth place in the Constructors' Championship on Sunday."

Heinz-Harald Frentzen was less successful but was also happy.

"We had quite a lot of oversteer this morning but we did several changes to the set-up, which made it better this afternoon."


Jordan Ford: Ralph Firman 17th, Giancarlo Fisichella 18th.

There were no real surprises at Jordan.

"This is the only track on the F1 calendar that I know really well," said Ralph Firman. "It goes without saying that I am really glad to be here. I am a bit disappointed with my lap time. I need to find more time at the first corner but I am sure we can do that because everything is working really well with the team this weekend."

Giancarlo Fisichella was less happy.

"Three seconds off pole isn't great! We have the usual problem of no downforce but it did not help because I made a mistake at the last corner and that cost a couple of tenths. I really want to do well this weekend as it is my last race for the team."


Jaguar Racing: Mark Webber 9th, Justin Wilson 15th.

"It was good," said Mark Webber. "There were no reliability problems and qualifying went pretty well. It was one of our better Fridays. There is still a bit to find on the long runs but there is almost nothing left on a one lap qualifying run. Maybe there was a tenth more at the Degner Curve."

Justin Wilson said that he had no specific problems with the car.

"The car is good but as always it has been a question of knowing how far to go to find the limit of the car on low fuel. That is what I have struggled with for the last four races."


Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Takuma Sato 11th, Jenson Button 16th.

"Takuma has had a really good day," said technical director Geoff Willis. "He's done exactly what we wanted and made no mistakes. He got through the programme this morning and his qualifying lap was extremely good. Life was a bit more difficult for Jenson after an engine failure at the end of his first run this morning. It meant he had no idea about set-up and had not been able to run the tyre that he eventually used in qualifying. There was a lot of understeer. But we should be able to sort that out tomorrow."


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

"Despite being at the back of the grid, I am not disappointed at all," said Paul Stoddart. "We have improved the car by one second over last year and that is better than other Bridgestone teams have done. Some have not improved at all. Nicolas needed to learn the track and he was on soft tyres while Jos was running on hard rubber."


Panasonic Toyota Racing: Olivier Panis 13th, Cristiano da Matta 14th.

It was not a great day for Toyota but the result was solid.

"We did a lot of work this morning," said Olivier Panis. "The performance is not yet at the level we had expected. I'm not happy with the grip or the balance, so we still have a lot to do."

Cristiano da Matta said that he needed more time to learn the track.

"I have to say it is my favourite of all the F1 circuits I've been to," he said. "I thought we would do better than we did. We need to do better."


Bridgestone: Hisao Suganuma: "Michael Schumacher suffered from being the first out on the track but we will show our true performance tomorrow. I think there is still a margin of improvement in the tyres."


Michelin: Pascal Vasselon: "It was a good day for Michelin on a circuit where we have not done well in the past. Judging by what we have seen today there are several of our drivers who will be competitive. Michael Schumacher is not going to have an easy time this weekend."
 
 
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