Austrian GP: Bridgestone Saturday notes

Rubens pulls pole out of qualifying drama

An action-packed afternoon for Rubens Barrichello brought the reward of pole position in a qualifying session that saw him go off the track twice. The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver managed to beat his own provisional pole time with his last lap, a 1:08.082, despite going off when he was caught out by oil on the track and again following a near collision with a Toyota. Michael Schumacher was unable to beat his teammate's time, either in his race car or in the spare car which he moved into with five minutes to go. It was a rewarding afternoon for Sauber Petronas, who brought both cars home in the top ten, and for Olivier Panis whose best lap for Lucky Strike BAR Honda will see him start tomorrow's Austrian Grand Prix from 9th place.

Hisao Suganuma, technical manager, Bridgestone Motorsport

"Another pole position on our tyres is fantastic. Having four other cars in the top ten means our tyres are working well here but what is important now is our race performance. The data from the longer runs done by some of our teams in this morning's practice sessions shows the tyres should be consistent, whatever strategies our teams choose and whatever the weather."

Ross Brawn, technical director, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

"A messy qualifying for us. We did not start our runs until the middle of the session and then we were caught out by the red flag because of the oil on the track. Rubens recovered well from the situation and did a fantastic job to take pole. Michael was unable to get a clear lap with either car but third position on the grid is OK for the race. Because of the way the session turned out, we were not able to do the work we really wanted to do with the tyres but they seem fine."

Willy Rampf, technical director, Sauber Petronas

"We have a lot of new components here as well as the engine which we used for the first time in qualifying. The performance was what we were hoping for. The Bridgestone tyres are very consistent. We tried different ways with them today but using all new tyres was the best solution."

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