Q: Giancarlo, you were on the pole in Austria a while ago and for a team not unlike the one you are
currently driving for? Giancarlo FISICHELLA: Yes, honestly, it was Benetton in 1998, I think, and now it has changed to
Renault and I am really happy to be the driver of that great team. Today has been another great day for me. I still did the fastest
time of all the drivers and that is important and I think we have the right strategy for the race today so I am looking forward. I
am just worried about the first corner but I am the leader so I hope it is going to be alright.
Q: The weather conditions
look changeable. What were the track conditions like today? GF: Honestly, the track was a bit green, but at the end it was
faster than at the beginning. It was not too bad considering the fuel load, the car balance was good and it felt comfortable.
Q:
Jarno, great consolidation of your front row position. What a wonderful way for you to start 2005 with Toyota? Jarno TRULLI:
Yes it’s great to be (on the) first row for Toyota and for the first time on the first row for Toyota I think. It has been an
amazing weekend up to now and I hope I can consolidate this position at the end of the race. It is going to be a tough battle at the
front, but also there are a lot of good cars and good drivers at the back coming up during the race so I need to push really hard. I
had a little understeer with the car, but considering the fuel load, the strategy and the tyre choice I am pretty happy.
Q:
Mark, P2 today, looking good out there… Thoughts for the race? Mark WEBBER: Well obviously yesterday’s session determined
the grid really. As we saw there were not many people who improved and you could only go backwards really today. It was a reasonable
lap, we set our strategy on pole today. The balance seems okay. As Jarno said, it is a long race, first time for everyone with one
set of tyres for a whole Grand Prix. We have tested in that situation, but racing is a whole different ball game. BMW Williams is a
good team so we are going to see what we can do.
Q: You three guys are considerably quicker than a lot of fast guys in the
middle of the pack. It looks like they are running more fuel than you – thoughts about that? MW: Well, I think the track
ramped up a little bit during the session. Maybe not a huge amount, but definitely the quick guys that were hammered with the
weather yesterday so it’s about 58 laps from now we will see who’s got the business.
Press Conference
Q:
Giancarlo, the gap grew between yourself and Jarno; what does that tell you? Is that what you would expect? GF: Yeah, more or
less. First of all, it’s been another good qualifying for me. I have been the quickest on the track, even today, which is really
positive. That means that we are in a good shape, considering the fuel load. I’m really optimistic for today, even because the car
balance was good. The car was consistent, I felt comfortable and confident in the qualifying session. Maybe, yeah, I was a little
bit too conservative in the first three or four corners but then I did a good lap and it’s great. I have a good opportunity today
and I’m looking forward to it. I hope to be the leader after the first corner and after that do my race and get to the end in
first position.
Q: Jarno, as you say, the first time for Toyota on the front row of the grid. The previous best was two
third places in 2003. Are you a little bit disappointed to have lost time to Giancarlo and also to Mark? JT: Well, to be
honest, this is what we expected a little bit because of the tyre choice, because of our strategy and also because we know that we
have to work on the car a little bit, but nevertheless I think we’ve done a good job up to now. I wish, myself, to end up the way
we have finished in qualifying. It would be great.
Q: Mark, what kind of weather conditions are we expecting this
afternoon? MW: Who knows? They’re expecting a little chance of rain, maybe, but you never know in this part of the world.
Ask the journos, most of them are Aussies here.
Q: Is that something that’s built into your strategy? MW: No, I
think everyone’s pretty much on the same strategy. You can’t build the weather into your strategy. Nine times out of ten it
would go against you anyway, so we’re doing the best thing we can for our package and today went OK. Obviously yesterday’s
session was pretty much the grid, but we knew that if it was dry today the session was going to be a waste of time and it turned out
to be pretty much that.
Questions from the floor
Q: (Joe Saward – GrandPrix.com) Giancarlo, you seemed to be
under the impression that you went fastest in that session. You didn’t, Mark Webber went faster than you by a very small margin.
Do you think it’s a bit odd that we have a session where the drivers don’t know what order they finished a session in? GF:
It is not easy. On my out lap my engineers told me Jarno’s time and Mark’s. They told me if I do a 1m 30.8s you are the leader,
but even in that case you have to be strong on your qualifying lap. There was a good margin but I was pushing anyway.
Q:
(Dom Taylor – F1 Racing) Mark, you did do the fastest time in that session. Is your car quick enough to win this race? MW:
I think I was lucky. It was a lucky lap. We have to wait and see the strategies. That’s the problem with fuel loads in qualifying.
We don’t have a clue, any of us in this room, us three, engineers, we don’t know who is the quickest. Yesterday we didn’t have
a clue because the weather was dominant and also in Malaysia the track will probably be going quicker and quicker as the session
goes on, even if it’s a dry session. That’s the way qualifying is now but the car seems pretty good. Yeah, we’re going OK but
there are some other cars which are quick as well so we will get our head down for 58 laps and see what we have at the end.
