Austrian GP: Jaguar Saturday qualifying notes

Qualifying at the A1-Ring brought mixed fortunes to Jaguar Racing this afternoon as drivers Antonio Pizzonia and Mark Webber qualified in 8th and 17th places respectively. Antonio posted his best Saturday qualifying performance of the season so far with a solid and clean performance.

Mark, however, was unlucky to take to the track after the BAR-Honda of Jacques Villeneuve littered certain corners with dust and debris which caused Mark to lose grip several times. The team is naturally disappointed not to start tomorrow's 71-lap race with both Jaguar R4s in the top ten, especially given how well the car has been performing at the A1-Ring all weekend.

Dr Mark Gillan - Head of Vehicle Performance:

"An excellent performance from Antonio today and simply unlucky for Mark! Our preparation going into the qualifying hour and subsequently the race has been very comprehensive and positive. We spent the morning warm-up sessions working on tyres and fuel loads in an effort to optimise our strategy for tomorrow."

"The balance of the Jaguar R4 has been very good and both drivers are happy with the performance. Antonio obviously got the best out of the qualifying hour and we are all delighted for him. He has kept his head down and focused very diligently on the job in hand all weekend and assuming we are reliable tomorrow, he should be well-placed to make a points challenge."

"Mark was unlucky today in that he followed Jacques Villeneuve out onto the track and suffered in the dust and debris that Jacques had left in his wake. Mark was clearly struggling for grip in those corners but these things happen. He has had a tremendous run of qualifying performances and you cannot win them all."

"The main thing is that we have not compromised our race strategy for tomorrow and given how well the car has been performing all weekend, we are quite positive and upbeat going into the race tomorrow."

Antonio Pizzonia:

"We made some set-up adjustments to the car during the morning warm-up and the results are good. I am, however, slightly disappointed not to have done better because of an error in turn six where I think I lost around three tenths. The margin separating the top ten is one second and three-tenths would have put in P5. Nonetheless, given the improvements we made to the car this morning, I am very happy and looking forward to racing tomorrow."

"The balance and power is very much suited to this circuit and my aim is to chase for my first points tomorrow. Michelin have again done their homework and the team has done an excellent job of preparing the Jaguar R4 this weekend. We haven't suffered from any unreliability issues and pace has been very competitive. We must finish tomorrow's race and aim to top-up our points tally which Mark kicked-off in Barcelona two weeks ago."

Mark Webber:

"A big shame given the potential of the car but there was little I could do. Jacques (Villeneuve) did a great job of messing up the track and compromising grip. It's a tight track and given how close the lap times are between teams, everyone is pushing that extra bit further for an extra tenth and these things happen. The car has been performing very impressively all weekend and to have missed out on its true potential is disappointing, but that's one-lap qualifying for you! It's a long race tomorrow and with some clever strategy work, I'm sure we can still make a significant contribution to the race tomorrow, albeit starting from 17th on the grid."

Antonio Pizzonia
Position: 8th
Best time: 1:10.045
Chassis: R4-03

Mark Webber
Position: 17th
Best time: 1:11.662
Chassis: R4-04
T-Car: R4-02

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