Belgian GP: Renault Saturday notes

Under cloudy skies, the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team completed a solid qualifying session for tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. In spite of several small problems for each driver during this crucial hour, they nonetheless managed to claim seventh and tenth positions.

Jarno Trulli finished a strong seventh in qualifying, in spite of only completing three full runs following a delay prior to his final effort.

Jenson Button was slightly disappointed with his final placing of tenth. After changing the set-up of his car for the third run, this run was spoiled by Jacques Villeneuve's spin during his timed lap. The decision was therefore taken to make no alterations for the final run, and on this timed lap, he found he lost enough time in the second sector to prevent him from improving his lap time significantly.

Jarno Trulli, 7th position

"It was a very good performance today, even though I didn't manage to complete my final run. Of course, it's always possible to improve if you're out on the circuit, so I don't know what we could have done on that last lap. Nevertheless, I thought we were very competitive yesterday, so things look good for the race tomorrow."

Jenson Button, 10th position

"I'm a little disappointed to be tenth, especially as Jarno showed what the full potential of the car was. We made a mistake with the set-up, and took off too much downforce for the last two runs. This meant we lost out in the second sector. Having said that, we should still be able to do something from this part of the grid."

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering, Mild Seven Renault F1 Team

"A reasonable session for Jarno and even though a problem meant he missed starting his final run by a couple of seconds, this probably didn't affect the outcome for him. Jenson was unfortunate to have a car spin in front of him on his third run, and we maybe miscalculated the effect of the changes we had made, which with the closeness of the grid in this area certainly cost him a couple of places. However, we are in good shape for the race."

Denis Chevrier, Head of Race Engineering (Engine), Mild Seven Renault F1 Team

"A good qualifying performance for us. It is pleasing to see our leading car in a strong position between the top six and the following pack, especially since our top speeds were competitive. However, I think we could have quite realistically hoped to finish the session seventh and eighth. We experienced no technical problems, and we now must look to make as good a use of our package tomorrow as we did today."

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