British GP Qualifying Stewart-Ford Notes

STEWART-FORD NOTES AND QUOTES 1998 British Grand Prix - Silverstone

Saturday 11th July: QUALIFYING

Paul Stewart, Managing Director:

"Naturally we are extremely disappointed to qualify where we did. Both drivers did all they could under the circumstances but basically we have a fundamental problem with the car which we have not been able to overcome. We are plagued by mid-corner under steer which affected us more in qualifying today than it has in the past. We were not particularly competitive during last week's test but we were not struggling anywhere near like we were today. It is actually quite difficult to pinpoint the exact source of the problem. One of the drivers will try the T-car tomorrow morning to see if there is a similar pattern. We will be working hard to investigate why the car is behaving like it is in an effort to resolve it."

Alan Jenkins, Technical Director:

"It's very disappointing for everybody in the team for the car to be performing so poorly here at our home Grand Prix. We cannot find either grip or consistent balance to reproduce testing times from last week or even before the Canadian Grand Prix. Both drivers tried very hard and the fact that each produced his best lap at the end of the session is a credit to them. We have more of a problem getting a good time from new tyres than we do on used ones so we can at least hope for a more respectable perform ance in the race."

Martin Whitaker, Ford European Director of Motorsport:

"The team is naturally concerned about the problems it has with the car's handling. As a result, we have unfortunately not been able to realise the potential of what we believe to be a strong new development of the Zetec-R V10. Both drivers have commented very positively on the performance of the Series 5 throughout the day and we are all hopeful that the difficulties experienced in the last few days can be overcome as quickly as possible."

Rubens Barrichello: Car no.18: SF-2/04 Best time:1:26.990 Position: 18th

"Whatever I tried with the set-up didn't seem to improve the handling of the car. I couldn't even manage to match the times I recorded in testing which is very frustrating. I must say the last two years at Silverstone in qualifying have been sessions I wo uld rather forget. All I can do is drive well and hope for reliability in the race."

Jos Verstappen: Car no.19: SF-2/03 Best time:1:26.948 Position:17th

"Not the best place to be on the grid for tomorrow's race. The car has actually improved throughout today but we are still a long way off from where we want to be. Unfortunately due to its layout, Silverstone is a track which highlights any problems you h ave with handling. Now all I can hope for is a good race tomorrow and if it rains well who knows?"