Formula 1
Australian GP: Jaguar Saturday notes
Jaguar Racing drivers Mark Webber and Antonio Pizzonia will start tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix from 14th and 18th positions respectively after the second of the new format qualifying sessions was completed today. The new 'one-shot' qualifying ...
Published: Mar 9, 2003, 11:06 PM
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Jaguar Racing drivers Mark Webber and Antonio Pizzonia will start tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix from 14th and 18th positions respectively after the second of the new format qualifying sessions was completed today. The new 'one-shot' qualifying hour produced the expected excitement for fans and teams alike and given that the cars will begin the race with the same fuel load and tyres that they ended qualifying with, today's final qualifying positions will reflect these strategies.
Antonio was the second driver to hit the track for qualifying while Mark was sixth. Both drivers completed clean laps with the Jaguar R4 suffering from no problems or issues.
Dr Mark Gillan - Head of Vehicle Performance:
"A pleasing qualifying session and good performances from both drivers today. It goes without saying but each team ran their cars today in accordance to their race strategies tomorrow and with that in mind, there is still a huge degree of uncertainty as to where we really sit relative to our competition. Nonetheless, we are satisfied with the way our build-up has gone although Antonio could have done with more track time going into the race. This has undoubtedly made life a little more difficult for our rookie driver. The gap between the midfield teams is very small indeed and how it pans out in the race is anyone's guess right now. We will continue doing our homework this evening in an effort to fine-tune our planned strategy but at this stage, we are happy with the performance of both cars and drivers."
Mark Webber:
"Qualifying was tough today and the new format is going to take some getting used to. Having spent this morning working on race set-up and tyre evaluation we went into qualifying with a good baseline for tomorrow's race. The team has done an excellent job working on the car and I could probably have squeezed a little more time out of the first sector today but nonetheless, I pleased with the second and third sector times. The midfield grid is extremely tight and tomorrow's race is a lottery right now -- anything can happen. We have learned a great deal about the car over the past couple of days and combined with our approach and strategy thus far, I am quite satisfied with our position going into tomorrow's race."
Antonio Pizzonia:
"I lost valuable track time this morning because of an issue with the brakes and in addition to the relatively short track time I had yesterday, my familiarisation of this Albert Park circuit could be better. My qualifying lap was clean and I didn't make any mistakes although it is difficult to know how hard you can push the car at a circuit you are completely new to. Given the significantly heavier fuel loads on-board, the lap times today will not be truly understood until tomorrow's race gets underway. It is extremely difficult to know what anyone else is doing strategy-wise and subsequently, it is impossible to know where exactly we stack up in the order. The planned programme we had in place has been achieved and I am now focusing my efforts on being fully prepared for my first ever Grand Prix."
Mark Webber
Position: 14th
Best time: 1:29.367
Chassis: R4-01
T-Car: R4-02
Antonio Pizzonia
Position: 18th
Best time: 1:31.723
Chassis: R4-03
-jaguar-
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