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2005 Spanish 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 preview click on the team name)

Toyota ( Jarno Trulli - 1st, Ralf Schumacher - 4th )

Mike Gascoyne - Technical Director Chassis "It was an excellent lap from Jarno and it's great that Toyota is going into Sunday on top of the timesheets for the first time. Ralf was a bit disappointed because he was quick this morning and could have taken pole himself. But in the end he was very close, so we're happy with first and fourth. Barcelona is very much an aerodynamic circuit. We've been working very hard on our aero package and we had some updates for this race. It was a good job from everyone in the factory and now we've repaid them with provisional pole. We've been strong here all weekend, but we've still only done half the job. Now we have to look to try and convert that into a strong performance tomorrow. Rest assured we will be doing everything we can to get both cars onto the front row and to convert that into Toyota's first ever race win."

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Renault ( Fernando Alonso - 2nd, Giancarlo Fisichella - 8th )

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
"Giancarlo did a solid lap but paid the penalty of his early running slot, especially as the first sector seemed very slippery early in the session. Fernando performed well, although a small mistake in turn 10 cost him a certain provisional pole. All in all, the team had a good session, building on our strong work earlier in the weekend. Looking ahead to tomorrow afternoon, tyre preservation will be a key factor to the teams' race pace: the forecast predicts hot conditions similar to today, and I believe we may see more differences in the tyre performance between teams than so far this year. From our point of view, we are very pleased with the performance of the compounds Michelin offered us here in Barcelona."

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

McLaren Mercedes ( Kimi Raikkonen - 3rd, Juan Pablo Montoya - 12th )

Ron Dennis
"A qualifying session which was made more difficult for the drivers as a result of their starting positions. However Kimi did a good job and one small mistake cost him pole position. It's so close at the front and we have every opportunity to attack for pole position tomorrow. Juan Pablo's lap took place when the circuit was at its worst and being the first one out, he was also a little cautious – but we are confident that he will also move up the grid tomorrow."

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Williams BMW ( Nick Heidfeld - 5th - drops 20 places on the grid due to 2 engine changes, Mark Webber - 6th )

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): It was a good qualifying session for the team. The whole team had a lot of work to manufacture and bring all the new parts to the circuit and fit these components in time for this morning's sessions, all of which are working well. Obviously due to the engine changes Nick will have to go to the back of the grid on Sunday, but we will do the best for him with a good race strategy. Meanwhile Mark's strategy for tomorrow's second qualifying will be to maintain his position with a higher fuel load.

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Ferrari ( Michael Schumacher - 6th, Rubens Barrichello - 9th - drops 10 places on the grid due to engine change)

Jean Todt: “We expected qualifying to turn out like this, so we are not really surprised. However, the negative surprise was Rubens’ engine failure, which meant we had to change it, thus losing the driver ten places on the starting grid. We know what are our strong and our weak points and it is clear that in tomorrow’s qualifying, we will not be able to do much to move up the order. But if Michael can stay pretty much where he is at the moment, then we have a fighting chance, given that reliability and consistency of performance of the various car-engine-tyre packages will play a key role. So far this season, our performance levels in the races have come from both ends of the spectrum, so it is hard to make predictions about what might happen in the race.”

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Red Bull ( David Coulthard - 10th, Vitantonio Liuzzi - 13th )

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: “Today David drove a good lap and, as we can see, the grid is very tight. He lost a bit of time in the 2nd sector but the car looks good so I’m sure we can make up for it tomorrow. Tonio lost time in the middle sector after he braked into turn 10, but that is all part of learning process. I’m sure he’ll respond tomorrow.”

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Sauber ( Felipe Massa - 11th, Jacques Villeneuve - 14th )

Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "After the significant improvement we made in Imola we expected more here. But Felipe has the potential to start the race in the first five rows so therefore it should be possible to score more points."

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Jordan ( Narain Karthikeyan - 15th, Tiago Monteiro - 16th )

Trevor Carlin, Sporting Director
“After yesterday’s testing, we made our tyre choice for the race on Sunday. We knew we would not have the ultimate pace in qualifying but we are pretty confident we will have a good pace tomorrow and build on our steady qualifying performance. We are also very pleased for our engine partner, Toyota, for finishing first in today’s qualifying session.”

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Minardi ( Christijan Albers - 17th, Patrick Friesacher - 18th )

Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth

“Christijan and Patrick may have qualified P17 and P18 in this afternoon’s session, but the team takes encouragement from a number of factors. As usual, both drivers have been pushing hard, and Christijan’s performance this afternoon saw him just four-tenths of a second off the time set by Monteiro’s Jordan. We also continue to be highly impressed by the new car’s straight-line speed in practice and qualifying, which is thanks to the excellent performance of the Cosworth TJ2005 engine. In fairness, this also indicates we are in the early stages of the PS05’s aero development. There is no doubt, however, that the team’s engineers and technicians are getting to grips with the new car. In addition, we have been able to try some new components this weekend, with promising initial results, and that process will continue during upcoming races. All told, we are satisfied with the progress made so far, and will aim to keep the momentum going tomorrow for final qualifying and the race.”

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Bridgestone

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport
“Ferrari didn’t quite get the balance they wanted today but I think they should be in good shape for the race. This is one of the toughest tracks on the F1 calendar and we shall be working with all our teams to help them get the most out of their tyres throughout the race. We knew qualifying on pole would be tough here but we don’t seem to have any wear problems so we are looking forward to the race tomorrow. Tomorrow’s final qualifying session will be interesting as it tends to be closely linked to race strategies. The circuit has one of the highest fuel effects. I would expect most teams to be on a two stop strategy.”

Full Bridgestone Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Michelin

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director “This has been another excellent day for Michelin. Several of our partner teams appear to be in contention for victory and it is immensely satisfying to see them making the most of the tyres at their disposal. We aim to give our partners a performance edge and I think it is clear that we are doing just that.
“This circuit’s layout places a great deal of strain on rubber – particularly the left rear. We know our tyres are capable of providing competitive performance for a full race distance in these conditions, but there are a number of external factors that could have a negative effect. There is a very fine balance to be struck and our engineers will be liaising closely with our partners to minimise the risk of unforeseen problems.”

Full Michelin Qualifying Report  Back to Top

BAR Honda ( Jenson Button , Takuma Sato )

Team banned from event ... more

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