Benetton/Lehto rumour

Jacques Villeneuve
"After the session this morning and during qualifying we kept improving and made some big progress. Yesterday was a tough day so we changed direction this morning and got closer and closer. In my last run the car was difficult to drive but faster, which allowed me to get a good lap in. We're still not where we wanted to be but we expect to be better off in the race tomorrow. It's going to be hot which makes it very physical but suits our car."

Olivier Panis
"We worked very well this weekend but I'm not happy with the qualifying session today. We had really improved the car throughout yesterday and this morning and I was very happy with the way things were going. The balance was good but we had an electrical problem. We tried to fix this and I lost a lot of time and a whole run. When I did go out the traction control was not working so I spun and couldn't do anything about it. I'm disappointed myself but also for the team because everybody has worked hard and made some real progress."

Malcolm Oastler, Technical Director
"This was actually our best qualifying session since Canada so we shouldn't feel too disappointed. However, we were optimistic that we could make a bigger improvement than we have. Jacques' engineers and mechanics did a good job of improving on yesterday's practice session and today we were able to find a good set-up for him. Rather tragically for Olivier, we experienced an electrical problem which gave him only two runs and prevented him from demonstrating his full potential."

Craig Pollock, Team Principal and Managing Director
"It's been a very hard start to the weekend and our qualifying positions are not quite as good as we had hoped for. Obviously the problems with Olivier's car didn't give him the position he merited from the weekend so far but we have the potential to race well from where we are. We need to stay focused now and work hard in preparation for the race to make sure we have a good set-up."

-BAR