Qualifying Quotes: Teams  [2004-23-October]

Jean Todt [Team manager - Ferrari]:
“A great qualifying from Rubens, who took pole position for the fourth time this season. For the third time in a row, we will start with one car ahead of the field and another much further back.”
“Michael's day was compromised when he went off the track in the closing moments of the fourth free practice session. Because of the damage to the car, the team decided to switch him to the T-car, fitted with a new engine. Michael will therefore have to drop ten places on the grid.”
“Our aims for tomorrow are clear: Rubens will try to win and Michael will attempt to finish as high up the order as possible. Given that the top eleven drivers are all within less than a second of one another, we will see a very close and hard fought race, both for the cars and the drivers, especially with the bumpy nature of the track surface. Another decisive factor will be the weather, as the forecast is uncertain. We think we have a very good car-engine-Bridgestone tyre package and we will do all we can to bring a historic year for Ferrari to its best possible conclusion.”

Ross Brawn [Technical director - Ferrari]:
“It was a day of totally contrasting fortunes. Rubens has done a great job all weekend so far. He has worked hard and set up the car properly. He did a great lap in qualifying. From my perspective, he deserves to win tomorrow. Whether that will happen is another matter. It would be great if he could.”
“Michael made a mistake this morning and, with the current format of the races, you pay very heavily for that. It has made it very difficult for him in the race tomorrow, and I think he is probably praying for rain.”
“The tyres are performing consistently, but I don't know what conditions we will face tomorrow, as there is a high percentage chance of rain. We have never been concerned in the rain as Bridgestone tyres are excellent in the wet.”

Sam Michael [Chief operations engineer - BMW.WilliamsF1]:
"After making a lot of changes to our cars, we managed to get a good race set-up this morning. The set up here is a compromise between the slow infield versus the rest of the track, which is fast. Both drivers did a good job in qualifying and it's a good way to finish the partnership with them. With such a tight grid here it will be interesting to see what happens when the various strategies unfold tomorrow."

Mario Theissen [Motorsport director - BMW]:
"As in Suzuka, our team had another strong qualifying session. This time it is Juan Pablo who starts from the front row. Behind the quickest, Barrichello, the lap times are very close together. However, I believe we have a strong position from which to start the race. Regarding engine performance it is nice to see that in all sessions our drivers were always the fastest on the long up-hill section that comprises the third sector."

Ron Dennis [Team principal - McLaren]:
"An excellent lap for Kimi. Commiserations to David as the whole team would have loved for him to have a more successful final qualifying. I think we have a strong strategy for tomorrow and are looking forward to the race."

Norbert Haug [Motorsport director - Mercedes-Benz]:
"An exciting qualifying session. Kimi did a strong lap and our strategy for tomorrow's race should see us in good shape. A shame for David to start his last race for the team from twelfth, but he should be able to come in the points."

Peter Sauber [Technical director - Sauber]:
"It is very important to be able to improve right up until the last race. Congratulations to the team, to Bridgestone and, of course, to both drivers for a very good performance. I am particularly happy for Felipe, who was able to cope with the pressure of racing at home and to deliver a fantastic performance for us and for Brazil. I think we will have an interesting race."

David Richards [Team principal - BAR]:
"The last qualifying session of the year and another very solid result by both drivers. All eyes will be on the sky tomorrow as we wait to see if the rain arrives prior to the race, which appears to be a distinct possibility. Regardless, it's the end of the season and let's just hope it's a great race for the spectators and TV audience to round off what, for BAR, has been a quite exceptional year."

Geoffrey Willis [Technical director - BAR]:
"After this morning's running we were expecting to qualify a little better than the third row, nevertheless we are confident of racing well tomorrow. Jenson had the more obvious problems in qualifying, when he found the car balance had changed too much to oversteer from pre-qualifying.”
“The cars have continued to be very reliable throughout the weekend and, although the bumpy circuit will make tomorrow's race hard on the drivers, it will be the consistency of our tyre performance that will determine our performance. As always, our target is to finish both cars in the points and to get on the podium."

Shuhei Nakamoto [Engineering director - Honda Racing Development]:
"Both drivers have done a good job to qualify near the front, which will allow us to fight for another podium finish. As it is the last race of the season, we want to have a strong race to maintain our momentum into the off season."

Pat Symonds [Executive director of engineering - Renault F1]:
"Neither driver found the car quite as well balanced as he would have liked on this bumpy circuit and our qualifying positions are a little disappointing. However, it is quite probable that there is a mixture of strategies and we may not know who has chosen what until mid-way through tomorrow's grand prix. However, we remain confident in the work we have done so far and feel a strong finish is very achievable."

Denis Chevrier [Operations manager - Renault F1 France]:
"A short circuit like Interlagos often makes for a very tight grid, in which a small time difference can represent a large number of positions. Jacques certainly suffered from that today and his cause was not helped by the restricted running time in third practice this morning. Fernando is better placed, but is still in the 'dangerous' part of the field where incidents tend to happen, either at the start or the first corner. Having said that, things might seem a little below-par this evening, but we remain hopeful of fighting strongly in the race tomorrow afternoon."

Mike Gascoyne [Technical director (chassis) - Toyota F1]:
"It was a mixed qualifying session. Ricardo struggled with a lot of understeer on his car in both sessions and wasn't able to match his times from this morning, which were set on similar fuel loads. Jarno was happier with the balance and produced an impressive lap to qualify inside the top ten.”
“Given the consistency and pace we have had over the long runs this weekend, we should expect to have a relatively strong race. We need to look to score points tomorrow to improve our position in the championship and I firmly believe that we should be able to do just that."

Dr Mark Gillan [Head of vehicle performance- Jaguar Racing]:
"Despite the shorter session this morning, we completed our full programme of testing ahead of qualifying. Both of the cars had good balance, although we were making changes to keep up with the on-going changes of the track conditions, with increases in temperature and changes to grip levels.”
“Mark's lap was really encouraging and I am pleased with his final position of eleventh. Christian also did a good job here and, although this is his first time here, he has really made the most of his practice sessions and learnt a lot. He was distracted at the end of his lap by the Jordan of Timo Glock, who was still on his in-lap and this may have lost him a tenth or two on his time.”
“Overall, we are in a good position for tomorrow's race and we are looking forward to going out and fighting with Toyota to keep our seventh position in the constructors' championship."

James Robinson [Director of race and test engineering - Jordan GP]:
"It was a great qualifying session overall and, for Jordan, it's good to get two cars ahead of Michael Schumacher!”
“We compromised the car set-up on the basis of the rain forecast for tomorrow, so we are hoping that our forecast is correct thus allowing us to make use of our excellent Bridgestone tyres.”

Paul Stoddart [Team principal - European Minardi Cosworth]:
"This weekend has been a busy one for Minardi and I am pleased with the fact that we were able to exceed last year's pole position time throughout the course of the day. Zsolt put in a solid performance in today's qualifying, while Gimmi will start from the pit-lane tomorrow, as he did not record a time.”
“The tyres provided to the team this weekend seem to be working particularly well here at Interlagos, and it is therefore an opportune moment to thank Bridgestone for the support they have given us all season.”
“The weather forecast for tomorrow could prove interesting, as we all remember the fantastic race Minardi had when the team was last here in Sao Paulo."

Return to Top