Belgian GP: Bridgestone Saturday qualifying notes

Bridgestone teams prepared come rain or shine

Day two of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend and the notorious Spa weather managed to stay dry just long enough today for Bridgestone's teams to complete their dry tyre assessments in this morning's two practice sessions. They also completed their qualifying runs before the rain clouds opened up again in time for the following GP2 race.

Michael Schumacher set the seventh fastest time with his teammate Rubens Barrichello several places behind in 13th, although they are expected to start further up the grid in tomorrow's race. Minardi's Dutch drivers Robert Doornbos and Christijan Albers put in good qualifying runs this afternoon, finishing ahead of both Jordan cars, much to the delight of their many supporters at this event.

There is a high chance of rain tomorrow so the race could bring plenty of surprises and the different wet or dry set-up strategies of each team could well play an important factor.

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport:

"Not an easy day to decide the race specification today as there isn't much data available from two, forty-five minute sessions. Fortunately it was dry this morning enabling the teams to do their tyre comparisons but due to yesterday's rain the track was quite green still."

"We saw an interesting qualifying this afternoon with Michael setting a reasonably competitive time. He may only have set the seventh fastest time in the end but his second sector was good to see as this is the sector which can indicate grip and the potential of the car and tyres for tomorrow's race."

"I expect Rubens will be stronger tomorrow and there is also a high chance of rain for the race in which case I expect all our runners to use the Bridgestone wet tyres to good effect."

Ross Brawn, Technical Director of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro:

"We're a little disappointed with the qualifying performance considering our times in the morning sessions. We thought we could have stepped up a bit. The track was a bit slippery though so it was not too bad. We expect Rubens will be able to pick it up tomorrow and we are mindful that it could rain tomorrow."

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