Team Rundown Saturday Qualifying Japanese GP

By FIA
October 11 2003

   
Team Rundown
 
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Rubens Barrichello 1st, Michael Schumacher 14th.

It was a bitter-sweet day for Ferrari with Rubens Barrichello's pole position a great boost for the team's hopes to win the Constructors' Championship but Michael Schumacher being caught out by the rain and ending up in 14th place.

"Rubens did a super job," said Ross Brawn. "The circuit conditions were already pretty difficult but we have a different dry tyre to the ones in Indianapolis and it was a relief to see that they worked much better in damp conditions. Michael's situation is not going to be easy. He has to stay out of trouble and we cannot exclude the possibility that Kimi could win from eighth on the grid."

The team had decided to change Rubens's settings back to those of Friday after a difficult morning session.

"It was the best lap I have ever done in Suzuka," he said. "I am happy to be on pole. Obviously the rain helped a bit if I win the race I can help Michael to win the Drivers' title and help the team win the Constructors'."

Schumacher was philosophical about his position. "It could have been worse. I think it will be pretty difficult for Kimi to win from that position. With regards to my lap I have to say that the was very difficult to drive in the conditions and I was too optimistic in 130R and had a little slide."


BMW WilliamsF1 Team: Juan Pablo Montoya 2nd, Ralf Schumacher No time.

Williams also had mixed fortunes.

"We have a very mixed up grid," said Sam Michael, 'and that will give us an interesting race tomorrow. It is going to be difficult to win the Constructors' title but with Ralf having come in at the end of the lap we have saved one lap of fuel. However we did not expect Rubens to be as quick as he was. Perhaps he is not running much fuel."

Ralf Schumacher said that the weather meant that there was little he could have done.

"It was really a shame," he said. "I have been strong in all the sessions and the rain destroyed everything. I aborted the lap so as to have more flexibility with my strategy tomorrow. Maybe I can score a few points from down there."

Montoya reckons that it will be a fascinating race. "Both Williams and Ferrari have one car at the front and one at the back," he said. "It should be a very interesting race."


West McLaren Mercedes: David Coulthard 7th, Kimi Raikkonen 8th.

McLaren was still suffering from Raikkonen's accident in the morning session with neither driver happy with the handling of his car.

"We are not in a good position to fight for the World Championship," he said. "But it is better than it might have been. You never know what will happen in the race. The weather could play a big part."

David Coulthard had lost all hope of a set-up in the morning session and had only a few laps in the warm-up to get used to the spare car. "The cars are all slightly different,' he said, "and the spare car had much more front end than I like to have. After the warm-up the conditions were changing so much that we decided that it was probably best not to change anything and just drive the car as quickly as I could. It could have been worse."


Mild Seven Renault F1 Team: Fernando Alonso 5th, Jarno Trulli No time.

"Jarno must be the unluckiest driver in the paddock," said Pat Symonds. "He has gone from the front to the back and there was nothing he could do about it."

Trulli did not attempt a flying lap. "The team decided to play it safe," Jarno said. "They asked me not to do a flying lap and so I have saved two laps of fuel."

Fernando Alonso had an easier time.

"Despite the weather I was able to limit the damage with a good lap," he said. "The time does not reflect the potential of the car and so I am confident for tomorrow."


Sauber Petronas: Nick Heidfeld 11th, Heinz-Harald Frentzen 12th.

Sauber was pretty much where the team expected to be on the grid and the rain had no effect on either driver.

"It started to drizzle on my out lap," said Heidfeld, "so I did that as quickly as I could, but the rain went away again and didn't influence my time. We have to see what strategies some of our rivals are employing, but I know that my car was very good over the long runs this morning so I'm hopeful for the race."

Frentzen went off in the second Degner Corner and lost time.

"I was just a bit too quick,' he said. "Apart from that the car was good and I think we will be OK in the race."


Jordan Ford: Ralph Firman 15th, Giancarlo Fisichella 16th.

"That was probably the best lap I have had all year," said Ralf Firman. "It's really good to be on a track which I know. That puts me on equal terms. On top of that we had a good balance on the car."

Giancarlo Fisichella was less happy. "The car still had a problem with straight line speed. It is very frustrating."

Chief engineer Gary Anderson said that all the team can do it hope for rain. "That would give us the wild card we need," he said.


Jaguar Racing: Mark Webber 6th, Justin Wilson 10th.

"That was a very good performance from Justin," said team boss Tony Purnell. "Poor old Mark is in the situation that you sort of expect him to do this well nowadays. The best thing was the impressive way in which we manipulated the weather in our favour!"

Mark Webber admitted he had been lucky.

"It was a really jammy result," he said. "I was expecting to be 11th. The rain was spitting a bit but it was still OK. We will have to see what happens when we pull back the curtains tomorrow morning."


Lucky Strike BAR Honda: Jenson Button 9th, Takuma Sato 13th.

It was a promising result for BAR-Honda.

"We were fortunate with the weather," said Geoff Willis, "but neither driver really made the most of it. Jenson had a moment where the oil had been at Degner and he lost another couple of tenths at the chicane. The pressure and excitement got to Takuma and he overdrove for most of the lap. That said, we're happy with ninth and 13th but it is going to be a tough race."


European Minardi Cosworth: Jos Verstappen 17th, Nicolas Kiesa 18th.

"It is a shame that the rain came half an hour too late for us," said Paul Stoddart. "We have nothing to lose but I expect some stock car racing in the midfield.


Panasonic Toyota Racing: Cristiano da Matta 3rd, Olivier Panis 4th.

It was a great day for Toyota with both drivers benefiting from the weather but both doing good laps.

"I am not going to complain about third place," said da Matta. "It doesn't matter how it is achieved. Third and fourth is fantastic for Toyota."

Olivier Panis was also delighted. "We had some real problems yesterday and everyone reacted very well to make us very competitive today. I really hope that this will result in something good for us for tomorrow."


Bridgestone: Hirohide Hamashima: "I am happy with the result. I have to say that Michael did a really good job because it was raining much harder at Spoon than it was at the pits and he did a great job to keep the car on the road."


Michelin: Pierre Dupasquier: "Unfortunately the session was the result of having one lap qualifying rules, which are never certain. Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher and Michael Schumacher are not where they should be and that will have an effect on what is a very important race."
 
 
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