Australian GP BAR Friday notes

MELBOURNE, Friday 2nd March 2001 - The Formula One World Championship is underway after the conclusion of the first day of practice in Melbourne. The Lucky Strike Reynard British American Racing Honda team had mixed fortunes in the morning session with a gearbox problem on Jacques Villeneuve's car. Olivier Panis however had a more productive run which ensured him valuable track time. The afternoon session proved more successful with both drivers making use of the session to fine tune their individual set ups in preparation of the qualifying session on Saturday.

Jacques Villeneuve
"I did not have a great day. I had some gearbox problems which delayed my time in the car during the first session which was a bit frustrating. The car felt good but we need to look at our information now to help us improve."

Olivier Panis
"I am happy to be back racing. I had a good first day and managed to get in a lot of laps. I am happy with the balance of the car although we still have a lot of work to do before qualifying, but it is a good start."

Malcolm Oastler - Technical Director, BAR Honda
"The second session proved better than the first for us. It is difficult to judge where we are as everyone is running different fuel loads but at least we had reliable cars this afternoon. We managed to do some good set up work during the session and evaluate the tyres although we will be looking to improve tomorrow."

Craig Pollock - Team Principal and Managing Director, BAR Honda "Overall I am bit disappointed as it seems on the face of it we are lacking a little bit on performance. However we have collected a significant amount of data which will help us to improve and we will be working hard on that overnight."

-BAR-