Brazilian GP: BAR race notes

Jacques Villeneuve

"The car was actually better in the race and a little faster than yesterday. I had a problem selecting first gear during the pitstop and lost maybe 5 seconds there. The car felt quite balanced but it just wasn't quick enough. I pushed as hard as I could but it was impossible to get any more out of it. Then we had an intermittent problem towards the end and the engine cut completely just a lap from the finish."

Olivier Panis

"We thought we had solved the reliability problems but obviously not, because today I had gearbox failure. I don't know if I could have finished in the points but if you don't finish you don't get to find out. We really have to work hard on our reliability in testing next week before we can hope to move forward. If we can finish a race, we can at least take advantage of opportunities. I haven't finished the first three races now and that's obviously not good, but I would like to think that I've had my run of bad luck and the next few races can bring me better things.

David Richards, Team Principal

"Jacques' retirement one lap from the finish was a disappointing end to a very average weekend. Not only are we not fast enough but we still have reliability issues to address. We must ensure that the basic foundations are put in place as fast as possible and the changes within the team last week were made with this in mind."

Temperatures
Track: 32-41 C
Air: 30-32 C

Olivier Panis, Position:  DNF (25 laps)

Best lap time:  1:18.705

Jacques Villeneuve, Position:  DNF (68 laps)

Best lap time:  1:17.131

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