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2005 Turkish Formula 1 Grand Prix
What the teams and drivers said - Saturday

Team and Driver Quotes following Saturday Qualifying

(selected team quotes, for a full team and driver report click on the team name)

McLaren Mercedes ( Kimi Raikkonen - 1st (will start 11th), Juan Pablo Montoya - 2nd (will start 1st) )

RON DENNIS
"Today's qualifying session has shown how strong our team is. Juan Pablo had a great, clean, well driven lap doing exactly what was necessary to put him on pole. Both drivers' strategies give them every opportunity to win but of course it is going to be somewhat easier for Juan Pablo. Kimi's lap was sensational, but due to the penalty after the fourth free practice session we had to change our strategy, making Kimi's performance more impressive. He is still in with a chance of winning if he can keep out of trouble in the run to the first chicane. With Juan Pablo on pole position we have a solid basis for fighting for the victory tomorrow."

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Renault ( Fernando Alonso - 3rd (will start 2nd), Giancarlo Fisichella - 9th (will start 8th) )

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
"After a good test last week and a strong performance in practice, it was disappointing for Giancarlo to lose out so much in qualifying. Fernando put in a good, clean lap and his position on the front row tomorrow is well deserved. Of course, that position comes as a result of Kimi's penalty, which will put him in dangerous territory tomorrow in the opening laps. The drivers around him will know that they can afford to be very forceful with him on the way to the first chicane."

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

BAR Honda ( Jenson Button - 4th (will start from 3rd), Takuma Sato - 5th (will start from 4th) )

GIL DE FERRAN, SPORTING DIRECTOR
"Today was a much better day for us than yesterday and most of the credit for this great improvement should go to our engineers and drivers, who came up with a revised set-up which worked much better. Both Jenson and Taku did a great job in qualifying, producing two really good laps. Starting on the second row should bode well for us in the race."

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Toyota ( Jarno Trulli - 6th (will start 5th), Ralf Schumacher - 10th (will start 9th) )

Mike Gascoyne - Technical Director Chassis
"It's always nice to have both cars in the top ten so that was quite a pleasing qualifying result. Jarno was reasonably happy with his car all weekend and he managed to put together a good lap in qualifying. Ralf was less happy with his car after this morning's free practice, but he made some changes which improved the car slightly for qualifying. We've aimed our strategy firmly at having a good race tomorrow, so given our starting positions and the pace we've shown all weekend we can be fairly confident for a strong points finish tomorrow or maybe even a podium."

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Ferrari ( Michael Schumacher - 7th (will start from 6th), Rubens Barrichello - 8th (will start from 7th) )

Jean Todt: “Today’s result is a pretty faithful assessment of the situation, even allowing for the unknown factor of the various fuel loads carried by the other cars. We are well aware that we continue to suffer from the problem which has been with us all season, namely poor grip. We are working intensively with our partner Bridgestone to try and resolve it. Of course we would have preferred to be higher up the grid, particularly for the benefit of all the Ferrari employees who, today and tomorrow, have their own grandstand here, and for all our fans. We can assure them we will, as always, give it our best shot. The key factors will be strategy, reliability and the behaviour of the tyres throughout the course of the race. We hope that the excessive wear we encountered in the past few races will not happen again tomorrow.”

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Red Bull ( David Coulthard - 11th (starts from 10th),  Christian Klien - 13th )

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: “Tenth and thirteenth is a respectable performance. Both drivers felt there was more time to be extracted from the qualifying session, but the absolute optimum would have been ninth for us today. Looking to tomorrow, we’ve got a good strategy and, as we tend to race better than we qualify, I think we can look forward to an interesting afternoon.”

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Sauber ( Jacques Villeneuve - 12th, Felipe Massa - 15th )

Willy Rampf (Technical Director): "Overall today was good. We improved the balance of the cars after this morning. And taking into consideration the fact that Felipe had to start the session so early when track conditions were not optimal, and the race strategy that we have chosen for each car, we have achieved a reasonable qualifying result."

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Williams BMW ( Mark Webber - 14th, Antonio Pizzonia - 16th )

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):
This is more or less what we were expecting from today due to running first in qualifying. After last week's testing and the four free-practice sessions held this weekend, I believe that we are much stronger than the qualifying positions would suggest. We have a good strategy for the race tomorrow and our target is to get the cars into the points. We did not have any mechanical issues today. Under the circumstances Antonio did the best he could at such short notice and with little practice.

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Jordan ( Tiago Monteiro - 17th, Narain Karthikeyan - 19th )

ADRIAN BURGESS, SPORTING DIRECTOR
“It was not the best qualifying session after the work we have done beforehand. Both drivers struggled a bit to get heat into their tyres for their qualifying runs. Narain’s case was made worse by having a small off this morning. We had to rebuild the car quite significantly in the gap so it made his job a bit more difficult. We know we have a good strategy for tomorrow and if we keep our heads down, we should be in a good position for a competitive race.”

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Minardi ( Robert Doornbos - 18th, Christijan Albers - 20th )

PAUL STODDART, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth
“Both drivers did very solid jobs today. It was a shame about Christijan’s mistake in the second sector of his qualifying lap, because clearly, both Minardis are again on the pace of the team’s nearest rivals. As ever, we look forward to an interesting race tomorrow.”

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Bridgestone

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport: “Both Michael and Rubens were setting competitive and consistent lap times this morning which was good to see. From that point of view the car-tyre package is showing good performance in race trim and given that this is the fastest circuit on the calendar I am pleased that we have not experienced any problems with our tyres so far this weekend. Combined with their grid positions set this afternoon, I think they could have a good race. I’m also looking forward to seeing the Jordan and Minardi drivers race tomorrow as we are quite pleased with their runs in the practices and qualifying.”

Full Bridgestone Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Michelin

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director
“Both our compounds have worked very well here, but in the end most of our partner teams have chosen to run with the same type of tyre tomorrow. Despite the heat and extreme straight-line speeds, which have a habit of increasing rear tyre temperatures, we have had no signs of undue wear or blistering.”
“There have been no real shocks today, with a clutch of Michelin runners at the front. There is always the chance of the race throwing up a few surprises, of course, but come what may I know that our tyres will be in good shape for what will be the fastest race of the year.”

Full Michelin Qualifying Report  Back to Top

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