23/09/2005
NEWS STORY
Practice for the only South American round of the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship got under way today at the Autodromo José Carlos Pace in dry conditions. Jordan Grand Prix drivers, Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro, plus Friday driver, Nicolas Kiesa, spent the day adjusting their cars to the demands of the Brazilian circuit and testing different types of Bridgestone tyres. Despite the Interlagos circuit's bumpy nature, all three drivers have been able to improve their lap times with each run and by the conclusion of the afternoon session, the Friday technical programme had been completed.
Narain Karthikeyan: We had a reasonable opening day at Interlagos today. I think we have found the right tyres. Unfortunately on my flying lap, I had a car in front of me so my last sector was a bit slow. But apart from the traffic, I am relatively satisfied with the balance of my car. The circuit was very green at the beginning but it improved considerably in the afternoon.
Tiago Monteiro: It was a good first trouble-free day I guess. We had no issues at all. We tried different car set- ups to suit the very bumpy track. We have to find a compromise between the bumps and the downforce. It's still not ideal but we have two more free practice sessions tomorrow to improve the balance of the car. We are not too far from the front runners so as a whole it was a positive day.
Nicolas Kiesa: It went pretty well today considering the fact that the last time I drove here at Interlagos was in F3000 in 2002 and my physical condition was not good enough at that time. I was wondering how it was going to be driving a Formula One car and I was glad to see that it was not a problem. I struggled a little bit to find a good car balance as the track surface is very bumpy and dirty. I have tested different types of Bridgestone tyres and now we have to make our choice for tomorrow.
Adrian Burgess: Today was not a bad day. The three cars were reliable and we were able to gather a lot of data on the tyres and chassis changes we have performed today. I think we know which way we will go regarding the choice of tyres for the rest of the weekend. Tiago's laps were ok, Narain did not really have a flying lap on his new tyres as he had a lot of traffic problems. The circuit is relatively short so it can be quite busy when the 24 cars are out. Nicolas completed a great number of laps, which will give us a lot of useful information. The times were all relatively close so now we will wait and see what tomorrow will bring.