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2005 Italy GP
Team Quotes - Friday 2 September
Jean Todt: Today's programme was slightly different to usual, in that we had already tested at this track last week. As usual, the priority was to compare the two types of tyre provided by Bridgestone. Times from free practice are not an accurate reflection of the relative strengths of the teams, as we do not know what fuel loads the others were running, so studying the data will give us the more worthwhile information. Having said that, we know that our package will have difficulty in fighting for victory in this Italian Grand Prix, which we have won for the last three years. We have to work along with Bridgestone to get out of this situation. I hope we will see some improvement in the final three races of the season.
Ross Brawn: It was not an ideal start to the Monza race weekend, as we lost Michael's car out on track in the middle of the second session. There were still a couple of things we wanted to check out after last week's test at this circuit. We have some more improvements to make to the set-up, but generally we are not looking too bad. With Rubens, we have no balance on the car and we must now try and understand why that is. He only drove on the first day of the test, when the balance of the car was much better so we will have to look at every detail to understand why we have lost that balance.
Following a productive test at the Autodromo Nationale Monza last week where BAR Honda completed an intensive two-day programme, the team commenced their Italian Grand Prix challenge today.
During the morning's free practice session Takuma completed a total of 13 laps whilst working through his usual tyre evaluation programme and finished in 7th position. Jenson completed his installation laps, but as the dusty track conditions failed to improve throughout the morning session, the team decided to defer the rest of his running until the afternoon.
Both Jenson and Takuma completed their afternoon programmes without any issues, however the team will be working hard overnight to find a way of improving their overall pace.
Gil de Ferran: "Today, as normal, we went through the tyre evaluation procedure and collected some good data. Although it is difficult to figure out how fast the other teams are on Fridays, the timesheets clearly indicate that our lap times need improving. Both drivers are quite unhappy with the handling of their cars' so we will collect our thoughts overnight and hopefully come up with a plan to improve tomorrow."
Shuhei Nakamoto: "The day has been pretty much standard for a Friday. The engine has gone well and this spec has allowed us to do a few more laps than our rivals which will give us plenty of data to study tonight."
Following more than 3500 km of testing last week at Monza, the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team was able to run a reduced programme during the opening day of practice for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix at the historic autodrome. Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella concentrated on final tyre choice for the rest of the weekend, as well as minor set-up changes prior to fine-tuning the car balance tomorrow morning. Both drivers found the car's handling altered since last week owing to the hotter track conditions, and although they finished the session on the fringes of the top ten, they remain confident for the rest of the weekend.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: We ran a very limited programme today after an extensive test last week, which allows us to conserve engine potential for the rest of the weekend. The circuit conditions caught us out slightly, as the track temperatures were several degrees higher than at the test and this had an impact on the balance of the cars. Overall, though, the order seems fairly typical – and we are in our usual Friday positions, on the edge of the top ten. We have a clear idea on our tyre choice, and will work on fine-tuning the balance of both cars tomorrow morning.
Denis Chevrier, Head of Engine Operations: Two weeks ago, we found ourselves confronted with a brand new circuit and a large amount of work on Friday. Today was exactly the opposite, running at a track we know intimately after running thousands of kilometres here last week. In that kind of situation, any surprises would be bad ones – and fortunately we did not encounter any! Both fresh RS25 engines are running normally, and our straight-line performance is competitive, just as it was in testing.
Last week's test at the Italian track proved productive for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team whose drivers were in the top positions in both of today's free practice sessions. The team is now working hard to keep the momentum going for Saturday and Sunday.
Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): It was a productive day for us. We got through our entire analysis programme. Obviously everybody is helped by last week's test here to check tyres, brakes and cooling. Nevertheless some final checks today were good and everything seems to be working well. Hopefully we can continue like this tomorrow. We have a couple of new aero parts here in addition to the usual Monza package and they are all working fine.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): It was a good first practice day at the Autodromo and both the drivers went through their set up programmes without problems. The workload was not as huge as usual because Monza is the only circuit on which it is allowed to test in the week before the race because of the high speeds. Most of the teams took this opportunity and collected enormous amounts of data for the car set-up.
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Pedro de la Rosa set the fastest time of the first two practice sessions for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza; his fastest time of the day being 1:20.201. Team mates Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen were third and fourth fastest with times of 1:21.583 and 1:21.735 respectively. Pedro completed 45 laps in both today's practice sessions, whilst Juan Pablo and Kimi completed 16 and 19 laps respectively.
Ron Dennis: "A successful Friday practice where we ran through our programme and achieved the results, in terms of speed and consistency, that we had expected going into this weekend. Unfortunately Pedro's problem finished his run prematurely, but this will not hamper our programme for the weekend."
Norbert Haug: "A first day in Monza with good and consistent lap times for our team. Of course last week's tests have been very helpful for everybody. As a consequence we didn't see a lot of running in both sessions. Our start for the weekend was a good one indeed and our aim is to achieve the same results on Saturday and Sunday."
Sauber drivers Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve finished 13th and 15th respectively after today's first practice sessions for the Italian Grand Prix.
Wily Rampf (Technical Director): "We did all of our basic set-up work in the test here last week, so today was all about race preparation. We had to change the cooling configuration a little to cater for the warmer weather, but otherwise we achieved our programme and were able to assess both tyre options. Choosing the right one is not a completely clear decision, so we will be going through all the data carefully this afternoon."
As many teams had tested on the high-speed Monza circuit last week, most of the F1 drivers opted to stay in the garage and conserve their car's engines during today's first practice, meaning there wasn't much action on the track. But, the fans didn't miss out too much. In the afternoon, World Champion Michael Schumacher suffered a 180° spin in his Ferrari at Turn 11, went backwards through a gravel trap and came to rest when the rear of his car slammed into a tyre wall. The incident bought his second practice session to a premature end.
Despite that, Parabolica was still amazing to drive, it's one of the best corners of the track. It's low downforce here, so you're on the edge all the time, it's like driving a boat on the waves, which is a pretty cool feeling. It's a special circuit for me. It's Italy and my home grand prix, so it's great to be able to drive here.
Günther Steiner: Tonio's engine seemed to lose a bit of power during both practice sessions, we tried to rectify the problem, but didn't want to change the engine. We'll have to look into it and analyse the data before we can make a definite conclusion so we'll be checking things, including a few mechanical parts.
In the wake of last week's test around Monza, Panasonic Toyota Racing came into today's first day of free practice for the Italian Grand Prix with more data than usual. That meant that the race drivers had the luxury of missing most of the morning session's running. But it was a normal Friday for third driver Ricardo Zonta, who put in his customary day of hard work on set-up and tyre choice. Zonta ended up with the fastest time in the second session with a lap of 1m20.531s, a second clear of the next fastest driver. Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher also had trouble-free afternoons, finishing with the 8th and 14th fastest times respectively.
Following last week's test here, Jarno Trulli was able to skip most of the morning session at his home race. But he had a trouble-free afternoon and will now look for points over the weekend.
Ralf Schumacher also had a quieter morning than usual because of the data collected last week. But he was happy with his afternoon's work around Monza.
Ricardo Zonta had his usual busy day, finishing up quickest in the second session for the third Friday in a row.
The Panasonic Toyota Racing team will spend the evening analysing the data from today's first two practice sessions around this historic circuit, based in the middle of the Parco di Monza.
Dieter Gass – Chief Race Engineer: "That was quite a positive day, and it's always good to have a car on top of the timesheets in one of the sessions. We were obviously here testing for three days last week, so like many other teams we didn't do that much running today because we already had most of the information we needed. Today we were just confirming some of those results. But we were quite happy with what we learned today and we have plenty of data to make our tyre choice."
Preparations for the Italian Grand Prix got under way today at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza with the team aiming to build on the productive work carried out during last week's Monza test. The drivers made solid progress during the course of the day and were reasonably satisfied with their times. At the start of the second session, Kiesa's car stopped on the track due to a failure, costing the Danish half of the day's track time. Monteiro spent the two sessions testing the new EJ15B, adding more mileage to the car and set an encouraging time of 1.23.994, which was the quickest of the three cars. The team will be running two EJ15B cars at the Belgian Grand Prix next week and three at the Brazilian GP.
Adrian Burgess: Today went as planned apart from the failure we had this afternoon with Nicolas. It is a shame for him and this did not help with our tyre information. However, with the test here last week, I think we know which tyre we are going to choose tonight. We are reasonably happy with the performance of the B-car. We have added more mileage to it and it has proven to be reliable. For sure, there is more to come with the development of the car. Considering where we are with our strategy for tomorrow and Sunday we are in good shape.
The opening day of the Italian Grand Prix weekend at Monza turned out to be a very satisfactory one for Minardi F1 Team drivers Christijan Albers and Robert Doornbos, and Friday tester, Enrico Toccacelo. Assisted by the knowledge gained and data accumulated during the recent Monza test, all three men quickly got to grips with the Formula One World Championship's fastest circuit, and steadily reduced their laps times. The exemplary reliability of the team's three cars also allowed the drivers to focus on developing a good chassis set-up to cope with the demands of the challenging Italian circuit, which are distinctly different from those posed by a number of the tracks visited recently by the Formula One teams.
Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth: It has been a good start to the Monza weekend, and there is no doubt our two-day test here last week has helped the drivers and technical staff in terms of ‘homing in' on a suitable chassis set-up for this very fast circuit. It was particularly satisfying that all three cars ran without any problems today, thus allowing the drivers to work through their technical programmes without interruption. It was also pleasing that Enrico ran for nearly 40 laps over the two sessions, and judging by his times, was definitely getting to grips with both the track and the Minardi Cosworth PS05. We now look forward to another productive day tomorrow.
The Italian Grand Prix weekend kicked off today with two, one-hour long practice sessions run in warm and sunny conditions. After testing at the 5.793km Monza circuit last week, Bridgestone Motorsport's teams have all benefited from preparing their car set ups in advance and have a feel for the tyres they have chosen for what is regarded as the fastest GP on the calendar. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro's Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello finished the first practice session with the eighth and eleventh fastest times. The second practice session proved less beneficial, with the World Champion crashing out mid way through the session, leaving him stranded trackside. Rubens Barrichello finished the session in 16th but will be looking to improve considerably tomorrow after ironing out the imbalance in his car set up. Jordan's Tiago Monteiro continued to relish his opportunity to run the new Jordan, finishing both sessions ahead of his teammates and the Minardi drivers. Meanwhile, Italian F1 newcomer Enrico Toccacelo had a trouble free day as Minardi's Friday test driver.
Hisao Suganuma, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager: Track conditions were reasonable today. This is probably because of the amount of testing that took place here last week. As a result, we were able to obtain some useful feedback and data about our tyre performance here. All three Bridgestone teams were able to compare their two specifications of tyre although Michael Schumacher couldn't complete his comparison as a result of his incident. Rubens Barrichello also struggled a little today with his car set-up but with the data we have from today combined with the data from last week, it shouldn't be a problem. We shall now check all the tyres and this evening we should be able to assist our teams in making a good tyre choice for the remainder of the weekend.
Ross Brawn, Technical Director of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Losing Michael's car in the middle of the second session was not an ideal start to our weekend. We had wanted to check a couple of new things on the car and we still have improvements to make in car set up. Rubens's car seemed to be less balanced today than in the test last week so we need to understand why. He only did one day of the test last week so we shall go through everything carefully this evening to see if we can give him a better set up.
Pedro de la Rosa was fastest overall on the opening day of the Italian Grand Prix meeting at Monza. The team's test driver lapped the 5.793-kilometre (3.599- mile) parkland track in 1m 20.201s this morning, 0.33s quicker than Toyota tester Ricardo Zonta's pace-setting lap in the second session. Juan Pablo Montoya was third on aggregate and fastest of the regular racers.
Michelin drivers set the top 12 times – and six of the company's partner teams featured in the top 10. Kimi Räikkönen was fourth ahead of Mark Webber, Nick Heidfeld, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella, Takuma Sato, Fernando Alonso and Christian Klien.
Michelin partner Red Bull Racing has confirmed that American Scott Speed will be its official test and reserve driver in 2006.
Current Red Bull driver Christian Klien was fined $2,000 this morning for speeding in the pit lane.
Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director: "We evaluated a number of ideas for the very particular circumstances at Monza and our various compounds have produced interesting – and very satisfying – results.
"While it is clear that our ‘option' tyre is a little bit faster over a single lap, we need to pore over the data to see how it will fare over 53 on Sunday. We have plenty of information at our disposal because our partners have completed plenty of long runs during the two free practice sessions.
"Track conditions are not radically different from those we encountered during last week's test session here. Some teams have reported a little more understeer, but generally we appear to be in very good shape. Things really couldn't have gone any better today."
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