British GP: Jaguar Saturday qualifying notes

Sunny skies greeted the drivers this afternoon as they took to the track for the Second Qualifying session of the Fosters British Grand Prix at Silverstone (UK). With high track temperatures and a light wind Antonio Pizzonia (22) and Mark Webber (26) drove clean laps to qualify 10th and 11th respectively.

The morning's free practice sessions were spent working on set-up and balance with longer runs in preparation for tomorrow's race. Despite an issue with Antonio's gearbox near the end of the last session, both drivers experienced an issue-free morning and qualifying session. The team's race strategy will be looking to ensure that should there be points for the taking, the drivers will be there to collect at their team's home race.

Dr Mark Gillan - Head of Vehicle Performance

"This morning's session was very busy for us as we worked through a comprehensive programme, looking at set-up, balance, and tyres. Both drivers had relatively good runs through the free-practice, despite Antonio suffering from a gearbox issue. Fortunately this was near the end of the last session and so it did not cost us too much time. The weather conditions, however, have been changing throughout the day and to be honest, we have been chasing for the optimum set-up.

Qualifying was again in different conditions with the wind picking up nearer the end of the session. Both Mark and Antonio did a good job, although I know that Mark would have liked to have got a bit more out of his lap. As a result of a chassis issue on his race car Antonio had to swap at the last moment to the T-Car. Fortunately this was already set up for him and we were able to prepare it in time.

I am pleased with our positions for tomorrow and taking our race strategy and reliability into consideration I will be looking to make the most of any opportunity to score points. However it is our home race and as history dictates anything can happen."

Antonio Pizzonia:

"I am happy about starting tomorrow's race from the 5th row of the grid but it could have better for me. We suffered a problem on the chassis of my race car prior to qualifying warm-up session and I had no choice but to switch to the T-car. We have an optimum race strategy for tomorrow given the fuel and tyre combination we have opted for and I am reasonably happy with the balance of the car."

"Today's qualifying wasn't helped either by the strong crosswinds across the circuit and I'm sure there are many other drivers who suffered the same. Nonetheless, we have had reliability on our side recently and given how hard this race can be on cars, we have a lot to play for tomorrow."

Mark Webber:

"Not the best lap I have done around this circuit but you can't win them all. I not in the habit of making excuses and I certainly don't want to start now. Suffice to say that it could have been better but there is still a long race ahead of us tomorrow. There was probably a little more to be squeezed out of the lap time but that's one-lap qualifying for you. It's been a tougher than expected weekend for us so far and probably one the hardest weekends we have had this season."

"We have been scoring points regularly over the past few races but this one will pose a much tougher challenge for us tomorrow. The balance and set-up of the car is good but it could be better. I know there are thousands of Jaguar fans here this weekend and we'll just have to see what we can pull out of the bag tomorrow. It's not a conventional grid order for tomorrow's race and it will be very interesting to see how the strategies come into play."

Antonio Pizzonia
Position: 10th
Best time: 1:22.634
Chassis: R4-03
T-Car: R4-05

Mark Webber
Position: 11th
Best time: 1:22.647
Chassis: R4-04

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