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2005 French GP
Team Quotes - Friday 1 July
Jean Todt: "We went through our usual Friday programme, centred on defining the best set-up on the cars and carrying out a comparison of the two types of Bridgestone tyre available to us. It is too early to make any predictions and now we have to study the data to be as well prepared as possible for qualifying and for the race. Although I'm not particularly keen on celebrating anniversaries, the fact of being here at Magny- Cours on 1st July means I cannot help but think back to this day twelve years ago, when I took charge of the Gestione Sportiva."
Ross Brawn: "The lap times we saw today are quite encouraging, however, we have not yet found a good balance on our cars. So we still have some work to do on the cars to improve that as we have too much understeer, which is costing us precious time in the long corners. Once we have fixed that, I think we will be quite competitive for the rest of this weekend."
Eager to get back to the business of racing, the Lucky Strike BAR Honda team made a good start to its French Grand Prix weekend today in the first of the free practice sessions for Sunday's 70-lap race.
Takuma Sato and Jenson Button worked through their regular programme of Michelin tyre evaluation and set-up work, and had their first opportunity to see how well the latest aerodynamic upgrades and Honda engine developments translated from a positive test in Jerez last week to the racetrack here in Magny Cours. Takuma Sato ended the morning session in 4th place, with team-mate Jenson Button close behind in 6th. This afternoon, the focus switched to a longer-run tyre programme and Jenson ended the day 12th with Taku in 14th place.
Gil de Ferran: "Looking at the final timesheets, one could be forgiven for thinking that we are disappointed with today's result. However, the opposite is true since we are quite happy with today's outcome. Once it became clear that rain was no longer a threat and track conditions were likely to remain reasonably consistent, we very much concentrated on doing longer runs, especially in the afternoon when the track was quickest. The Michelin tyres proved to be quite consistent during those long runs and we believe that we have made a step forward in our high-downforce configuration for this race. We are hopeful of a good performance in qualifying tomorrow. Finally, it feels good just to be concentrating on racing again after a turbulent few weeks."
Shuhei Nakamoto: "Generally, we have made a positive start to our French GP weekend today. We are using the latest specification of Honda engine here and, as expected, the performance has been very good. We look forward to a strong weekend here in Magny Cours."
The Mild Seven Renault F1 Team completed a successful opening day of their home race weekend during the first free practice sessions in Magny-Cours. Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella completed tyre evaluation programmes during both sessions, conducting performance and endurance running to enable the team to select the best tyre type for the rest of the weekend. Fernando's running was cut short by a cracked exhaust pipe in the second session, but overall the results of the day were encouraging, with both drivers finishing near the top of the timesheets.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: We had a very normal Friday session, with a good balance on the cars from the word go and just some fine-tuning to complete tomorrow. The day was relatively trouble-free, although Fernando had to cut his run short this afternoon because of a cracked exhaust. The tyre test was slightly compromised by traffic, but we will be able to pick out the relevant data overnight. All in all, it was a standard Friday, and we encountered no problems that might worry us for the race.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Operations: Like our competitors, we completed a substantial number of laps today in order to get the best possible baseline for our race performance. We encountered no significant problems, and will work overnight on tuning the performance of a number of new peripheral parts that we have introduced since Indianapolis. On the technical front, today provided a substantial amount of information for the rest of the weekend; on the sporting side, I believe it showed we have the potential to be very competitive this weekend.
It was a usual first day of Free Practice for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, with both the drivers concentrating on doing their usual Friday homework. Both cars ran reliably.
Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): We have had a reasonable day in terms of the programme. We did all our homework on tyres, brakes and cooling. We have some aerodynamic improvements here to the car. They are all working well and as expected. Now we need to work on improvements for tomorrow.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): From the engine side it was a trouble-free practice. Both our drivers completed the scheduled laps for tyre evaluation. In terms of performance it is too early to say where we will be here.
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Pedro de la Rosa emerged fastest from both of today's practice sessions at the Magny Cours circuit in France (1:14.778 and 1:14.460). Team mate Juan Pablo Montoya was second quickest in the afternoon with a time of 1:15.129. Kimi Raikkonen suffered from an engine failure during the opening minutes of the second practice and his car will have an engine change overnight.
Ron Dennis: "Juan Pablo and Pedro completed their planned programme without any problems. Both drivers gathered a lot of data which will determine our strategy for the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately Kimi's running was cut short with an engine failure which will make his race even more challenging."
Norbert Haug: "Kimi had an engine failure in the second free practice when he was on his first flying lap. This engine specification ran various times reliably between 1200 and 1500 kms of testing on and off track. We will fly the engine back and investigate the reason for the failure immediately. It should not be a general problem with this engine specification after all our thorough testing programmes, but we will know more tomorrow."
Sauber drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Felipe Massa finished 11th and 13th respectively after today's first practice sessions for the French Grand Prix.
Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "We expect much hotter weather for the race, so our work on set-up today was conducted with these potential circumstances in mind. Both C24s ran flawlessly and I believe that we have a good basis with tyre choice and chassis set-up."
David Coulthard, Christian Klien and Tonio Liuzzi clocked up 89 laps between them in today's two practice sessions. During the first practice, Tonio spun his RB1 into the gravel at Turn 12 and damaged a front left push rod. In the afternoon, Christian's session was cut short when he turned too sharply at the first chicane (Turn 6 and 7), clipped the inside kerb and spun into the tyre barrier, damaging his car's floor and suspension. Throughout the day, the air temperature ranged between 20°C and 24°C, while track temperature rose from 30°C in the morning to 37°C in the afternoon.
Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "Unfortunately Christian made a mistake at the high-speed chicane (Turn 6 & 7) and had quite a heavy impact, which damaged some of the new aerodynamic update that has gone onto the cars this weekend. Christian's car will be repaired overnight and he'll be ready to go first thing in the morning. Generally our performance looks quite good, David's times were very respectable, Tonio worked well through the tyre programme and I think we're looking in reasonable shape."
Panasonic Toyota Racing made a solid start to its preparations for the French Grand Prix during today's two sessions of practice. On his return to driving at a grand prix weekend, local favourite Olivier Panis had an enjoyable day, putting in 61 laps and recording the 6th fastest time of the second session. Race drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher both made it through their programmes without problems, ending up with the 8th and 9th fastest times respectively.
Jarno Trulli had a solid day of practice for Sunday's race, putting in a total of 25 laps of the track and recording a time of 1m 15.774s, the 8th fastest of the second session.
Now fully recovered from his dramatic Friday a fortnight ago, Ralf Schumacher enjoyed a trouble-free day of groundwork for the French Grand Prix – a race he won in 2003 – finishing both sessions in the top ten.
Home hero Olivier Panis drove the third car for today's sessions as a special one-off in place of Ricardo Zonta. He had to work hard, putting in 61 laps over the two hours, but he hopes his experience will help the team this weekend.
Panasonic Toyota Racing will look to bring home another strong result in Sunday's French Grand Prix after a solid day of work around Magny-Cours here today.
Mike Gascoyne – Technical Director Chassis: "We had no problems on any of the cars, and we have all the information we need to make a decision on the tyres, so that was a good day for the team. It was good to have Olivier with us for the French Grand Prix. I think he enjoyed his day, completing his tyre evaluation programme. He was pretty happy with the handling of the car, as were the two race drivers. Jarno and Ralf both worked through their programmes too. Now we just have to carefully evaluate the data for the tyre choice and aim for another finish on the podium."
Jordan Grand Prix drivers, Narain Karthikeyan and Robert Doornbos began the weekend with a smooth-running Free Practice day today with no mechanical problem or damage to their cars at the circuit de Magny-Cours. Unfortunately for Tiago Monteiro, he damaged his rear suspension after hitting a kerb in the last chicane and lost some valuable track time in the first session. However, the team did an excellent job in fixing the car for the afternoon and Monteiro managed to complete 18 laps with a fastest a time of 1.19.186. Doornbos spent the two sessions testing the new EJ15B, adding more mileage to the car and set an encouraging time of 1.17.574 which was the quickest of the three cars. All the drivers had the advantage of driving on a familiar track and completed their various programmes such as car set-up and Bridgestone tyre evaluation.
Adrian Burgess: "We did not have a bad start but it was not a perfect start either. Narain did a solid job. We learnt some useful information from him in order to go in the right direction for the rest of the weekend. Tiago had a brief spin this morning, which damaged the car but then we were able to catch up in the afternoon. Robert did a good job as normal and put another 200 kms on the new car, which allowed us to gain very valuable information and solve some of the issues we had. It was a very productive day for the EJ15B."
After a two-week break, Formula One returns from the New World to begin preparations for the French round of the Formula One World Championship. Minardi F1 Team drivers Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher quickly got up to speed during today's two free practice sessions on the 4.411-km Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours. The track is generally tight and twisting, with effective vehicle downforce, plus good handling and traction, essential to competitive lap times. Today's technical programme focused on finding a suitable set-up for the low- and medium-speed corners that abound at the French circuit, as well as on further improvements to the PS05 aerodynamic package. Technical staff were pleased with the data acquired, and look forward to making further progess tomorrow.
Paul Stoddart: It's good to be back doing what F1 teams should focus on, which is the racing. Both sessions today went reasonably well for Minardi, other than a gearbox change that had to be carried out on Christijan's car during the second session. Once again, the mechanics did a fantastic job to make the switch in less than 20 minutes. It's interesting to note that, despite this year's new regulations designed to slow the cars, the Minardi Cosworth PS05 is a second quicker than its predecessor was here last year. We're very pleased at the huge effort, both here at the track and back at the factory, that has generated this progress.
It was business as usual today at the 4.411km Magny-Cours circuit in central France with Bridgestone Motorsport’s three teams busy preparing themselves for the weekend ahead. The French Grand Prix marks the half way point of the 19-race calendar and the circuit has several slow speed corners requiring good rear traction. The Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi drivers spent today’s two, one-hour long sessions assessing their car set-ups and tyre specifications in conditions which were warm but dry after last night’s torrential rain which resulted in a green but improving track.
Hisao Suganuma, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager: "The track was quite green this morning which resulted in poor grip conditions and we noticed many of the cars struggling with understeer. We could also see some front tyre graining but as normal the situation improved through the afternoon session when the tyres started to work better. We did some long distance runs in the second session and now we just need to check the tyres for wear, blisters and so forth to make sure there aren’t any problems and that they are durable enough. Once this is done we can make our recommendations as usual this evening to the teams."
Ross Brawn, Technical Director of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: "Quite encouraging for overall lap times but we haven’t quite found a good balance yet so we’ll be making a few changes on the car to try to improve that. There’s also a little too much understeer but it’s reasonably encouraging because once we’ve fixed that I think we’ll be quite competitive this weekend."
Pedro de la Rosa set the fastest time on the opening day of the French Grand Prix meeting at Magny-Cours. The McLaren-Mercedes Michelin tester was the only driver to dip below the 1m 15s barrier – and he did it in both sessions. His 1m 14.460s lap this afternoon put him 0.669s clear of team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya, the quickest of the regular racers. World championship leader Fernando Alonso was third fastest on aggregate.
Giancarlo Fisichella was best of the remaining Michelin drivers, ahead of Olivier Panis, Takuma Sato, Jarno Trulli, Kimi Raikkonen, Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button.
Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director: "Magny-Cours differs from some other circuits in that it offers good, consistent grip almost from the start of a race weekend. Its character tends not to change too dramatically as more rubber is laid down and we saw some very representative times being set during today's first session.
"It is always nice to race on home soil, of course, but it doesn't make a shred of difference to our preparations – we tackle every grand prix with exactly the same degree of commitment. People sometimes assume we have an unfair advantage in France, but that's absolutely not the case because we don't conduct F1 tests at Magny-Cours.
"From our data, however, we can see that the tyres we are using this weekend – there are two compounds, each available with two subtly different constructions – are well suited to the conditions."
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