25/09/2005
NEWS STORY
Technical progress continued during the final two free practice sessions on Saturday morning for the Minardi F1 Team, drivers Christijan Albers and Robert Doornbos concentrating on further handling refinements to the PS05 chassis, as well as carrying out qualifying and race simulation work. When it came to the afternoon qualifying session, though, the two men experienced differing fortunes. Albers put in a solid run to record the 18th fastest time, while Doornbos lost out on a potentially good lap when he spun at Turn 12. The Faenza squad remains upbeat, however, about its chances in tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix.
Christijan Albers: I was happy to bring the car home in qualifying, as we had some oversteer in one or two of the quick corners that made it quite tricky. We actually set a good time today for this car considering our race strategy, so it looks positive for tomorrow.
Robert Doornbos: From hero to zero – yesterday I was laughing, but today, nothing. I was driving on the limit in the qualifying run, and the car was a bit nervous because of the strategy we're running tomorrow. As a result, I spun, and I'm sorry for the guys because they pushed really hard right up to the last minute in order to fix a problem they found with the gearbox. I couldn't make the best of today, but we'll see what we can do tomorrow.
Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth: Today didn't turn out quite the way we would have liked; however, we feel we have made the right choice regarding both fuel and tyres for tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix, and we look forward to a better race.