The Mild Seven Renault F1 Team was disappointed following qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix this afternoon at Interlagos. Fernando Alonso and Jacques Villeneuve finished ninth and fourteenth although both will gain a position owing to a ten-place penalty suffered by Michael Schumacher. Both drivers suffered from understeer on their timed laps but question marks remain over the different strategies that will be employed for tomorrow's race. Looking ahead to the Grand Prix, the team is hopeful that the R24's consistency on long runs during practice will allow it to demonstrate its full potential in race conditions.

Fernando Alonso: "I am confident we can be more competitive tomorrow than we seemed this afternoon. The car was understeering a bit too much in the slow corners during qualifying but the overall balance was still quite good in spite of this. We will need to wait for the race to see what strategies our competitors have but I think things will be better for us. The R24 was setting constant and competitive times on the long practice runs we did yesterday and today."

Jacques Villeneuve: "I had a bad lap - it was as simple as that. The car was handling better this morning but then started understeering on the qualifying lap and I couldn't hook things up as I would have liked. Tomorrow's race will be demanding but I am still hoping for a points finish."

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "Neither driver found the car quite as well balanced as he would have liked on this bumpy circuit and our qualifying positions are a little disappointing. However, it is quite probable that there is a mixture of strategies and we may not know who has chosen what until mid-way through tomorrow's Grand Prix. However, we remain confident in the work we have done so far and feel a strong finish is very achievable."

Denis Chevrier, Engine Operations Manager: "A short circuit like Interlagos often makes for a very tight grid, in which a small time difference can represent a large number of positions. Jacques certainly suffered from that today and his cause was not helped by the restricted running time in third practice this morning. Fernando is better placed but is still in the 'dangerous' part of the field where incidents tend to happen, either at the start or the first corner. Having said that, things might seem a little below-par this evening but we remain hopeful of fighting strongly in the race tomorrow afternoon."