Australian GP: BAR Saturday notes

Olivier Panis
"I continue to feel very positive today, despite a difficult qualifying session. Again, I could not use the car to its full potential because I had only one quick lap. We were interrupted by the red flag and after that, the wet conditions made it impossible to improve. We were unlucky to finish 12th and 13th because I think we could have improved to at least 8th with the car we had today. I hope we get a good warm-up session so we can maximise the car more but I think we have a promising package for the race tomorrow."

Jacques Villeneuve
"It was a very strange qualifying session, first with my incident with David Coulthard and then with the rain. The conditions were bad and we haven't seen what the car is capable of at all. The car is much more competitive than that so we have to look ahead to the race and see how we can improve from 13th on the grid. Things should be more promising tomorrow, for sure."

David Richards, Team Principal
"The true potential of the team was shown in the morning practice session where we were 8th and 9th, but unfortunately qualifying turned into something of a lottery and we came out worse than most. Having said that, I 'm happy that the new car is proving to be a significant step forward and will provide the basis for improvement over the coming months. Our objective for tomorrow is to get both cars home well inside the top 10 and gather valuable information for ongoing development."

Malcolm Oastler, Engineering Director
"The weather meant that our drivers only managed one fast lap each. We could have gone faster but that's no doubt the same hard luck story as the other teams. 12th and 13th is where we have to start. Jacques and Olivier were happy with the balance of the cars so we are feeling more positive about the race tomorrow."

Chassis
Villeneuve: BAR004/03
Olivier Panis: BAR004/04
Spare: BAR004/02

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