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2005 Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix
What the teams and drivers said - Friday

Team and Driver Quotes following Friday Practice Sessions

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

McLaren Mercedes ( Pedro de la Rosa - 1st, Kimi Raikkonen - 4th, Juan Pablo Montoya - 10th )

Ron Dennis
"Today's challenge was to adopt the cars to the ever changing track conditions which of course made tyre choice and set-up work even more difficult. All three cars ran trouble free with the lap times purely showing variation in fuel loads and tyre conditions. Kimi had an encouraging day whilst Juan Pablo's mistake in his last run means that the team has a little more work to do now than planned. Pedro put in another disciplined and constructive performance and we are looking forward to the rest of the weekend."

Full Team and Driver Practice Report  Back to Top

Toyota ( Ricardo Zonta - 2nd, Jarno Trulli - 5th, Ralf Schumacher - 8th )

Dieter Gass - Chief Race Engineer
"That was a pretty good start to the weekend. Ricardo's hydraulic problem during the first session meant he didn't get much work done and both race drivers only did a few laps, but the second session was very good. The cars look quick and consistent and Ricardo was able to finish his programme with the tyre comparison. Tyre choice is going to be interesting because it didn't look that clear cut. But the car looked pretty quick and consistent on both types of tyre so all in all it was a pretty pleasing day. After a difficult weekend in Imola we look much more on the pace here."

Full Team and Driver Practice Report  Back to Top

Williams BMW ( Nick Heidfeld - 3rd, Mark Webber - 22nd - No Time )

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):
We have had a productive day with Nick. We went through the entire set-up programme, which gave us some good information for the race. We also went through the normal checks for the cooling of the engine and the brakes. Nick had some of the new aero parts on the car which worked fine. Tomorrow, we will fit the rest of the aero parts that we have developed for this race. Mark obviously didn't run due to the engine issue.

Full Team and Driver Practice Report  Back to Top

Red Bull ( David Coulthard - 6th, Vitantonio Liuzzi - 15th, Christian Klien - 16th )

Günther Steiner, Technical Director: "Tonio’s and David’s practice was ok. We worked on tyre evaluation and it all went well. We will now analyse the data and see the outcome. Christian had a slight problem this morning and it seems to be the electronics, but we will have to examine the car to be sure of what caused it. Anyway, I think we got enough data from the other two cars. Obviously we ran two different programmes for the three cars and I think that overall, we had two good sessions."

Full Team and Driver Practice Report  Back to Top

Renault ( Giancarlo Fisichella 7th, Fernando Alonso - 9th )

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
"As we have become very used to saying, this was a normal Friday for us – perhaps even more so than usual because the circuit is so familiar. The R25 is usually well-balanced from its first laps, and that was the case again today – although the windy conditions meant we had to make some set-up adjustments to adapt. We have good data and answers on the tyres, which showed good durability today, and the performance of both cars seems encouraging and very similar."

Full Team and Driver Practice Report  Back to Top

Ferrari ( Rubens Barrichello - 11th, Michael Schumacher - 13th  )

Jean Todt:
“Today’s programme followed the usual pattern, concentrating mainly on finding the best set-up for the car and choosing which type of tyre to use for qualifying and the race. At this track, the tyres play an even more important role than elsewhere. Going on what we have seen in the two hours of running today, we must analyse all our data to do the best possible job of preparing the cars. We can expect a very close fought weekend and, as usual, we will tackle it with great determination as we strive to get the best possible result.”

Full Team and Driver Practice Report  Back to Top

Sauber ( Felipe Massa - 12th, Jacques Villeneuve - 14th )

Peter Sauber (Team Principal):
"I think Spain is a great country and Barcelona is a very nice city, and it looks as if the track was reciprocating those feelings as the day progressed. We worked on different set-ups and tyre programmes and I feel that this afternoon we were able to reach a good set-up baseline for tomorrow."

Full Team and Driver Practice Report  Back to Top

Jordan ( Narain Karthikeyan - 17th, Robert Doornbos - 18th, Tiago Monteiro - 19th )

Trevor Carlin, Sporting Director
“We had two very productive sessions today, with all three drivers completing the different programmes we had, especially testing Bridgestone tyres. We are now facing a tough decision of which tyres to use for the rest of the weekend. However, I am sure we will make the right choice.”

Full Team and Driver Practice Report  Back to Top

Minardi ( Christijan Albers - 20th, Patrick Friesacher - 21st )

Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth
“Generally, it has been a productive first day in Spain as we continue to learn about, and make progress with, the PS05. The lap times came down steadily, and it is pleasing to see we have ended the day tantalisingly close to our nearest rivals. Our main goals this weekend are to consolidate the gains made on reliability at the Mugello test, while picking up the pace in order to close the gap to our competitors, On today’s evidence, we are progressing well. This is in large measure due to the hard work and long hours that continue to be put in by the Minardi mechanics and technicians, so once again, a big thank you to all of them for their unstinting efforts.”

Full Team and Driver Practice Report  Back to Top

Bridgestone

Hisao Suganuma, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager, said: “Track conditions were reasonable today from the start, enabling the cars to start running at a good pace. Obviously Ferrari didn’t get much running in the first session but were able to carry out their tyre comparisons in the second session. Jordan and Minardi too completed their programmes and we have plenty of data from which we can make our recommendations for the tyre choice. The hot conditions here are not extreme in comparison to Malaysia or Bahrain and I’m sure we’ll have a good race pace this weekend.”

Full Bridgestone Practice Report  Back to Top

Michelin

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director “Although the Circuit de Catalunya has been resurfaced and is no longer as abrasive as it used to be, its combination of tight corners and fast, high-speed sweeps is always going to place a significant load on tyres. During the build-up to the race the new surface hasn’t made the task for our engineers any easier, and it has given them a different type of problem to assess.” “We brought three different types of tyre to this race and it is conceivable that all will be used on Sunday, because they appear well suited to the conditions. We have accumulated plenty of useful data today and that has given us an excellent platform on which to build for the balance of the weekend.”

Full Michelin Practice Report  Back to Top

BAR Honda ( Jenson Button , Takuma Sato )

Team banned from event ... more

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