British GP Saturday BAR notes

SO NEAR YET SO FAR

SILVERSTONE, ENGLAND, April 22, 2000 - With just seven minutes of qualifying remaining for tomorrow''s British Grand Prix, it was Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda driver, Jacques Villeneuve, whose name sat at the top of the timing screens. Unfortunately, the tantalising prospect of the Canadian-born driver taking his first pole position since his 1997 World Championship-winning season was not to become reality. As has become the norm in Formula One qualifying, teams saved their best efforts until the very last moment at Silverstone. In this case, a small mistake on his last run and a pair of yellow-flag incidents prevented Villeneuve from improving on his earlier time and he tumbled from first to tenth place in a matter of moments. Team mate, Ricardo Zonta, paying the price for time lost following last week''s testing accident at Stowe corner, starts tomorrow''s race from 16th place on the grid. JACQUES VILLENEUVE
Position: 10th
Fastest lap: 1:27.025
"The session went okay. We were a bit worried about the gearbox after the first run, but it turned out to be fine. The third run was pretty good, even though there were still some damp spots on the track, and then on the final run I made a mistake in the last sector. It was nice to be at the top of the timing screens, but I would have preferred to be at the top at the end of the session. So far this season, we''ve gone well in the dry starting from eighth or ninth on the grid, so maybe starting 10th in the wet isn''t so bad." RICARDO ZONTA
Position: 16th
Fastest lap: 1:27.772
"It''s disappointing. We missed the chance to test in the dry last week because of the accident and maybe we could have improved the balance of the car if we had had more time. I had some understeer on the first lap of my last run and also had many yellows. I hope to do better in the race." DR. ADRIAN REYNARD, Technical Development Director
"I think it''s obvious we ''ve got a fast car and it was a shame that Jacques couldn''t improve his time in the closing minutes of the session. We seem to have overcome some technical glitches we had yesterday and I think we''re now pretty confident with our settings. Ricardo is justifiably rebuilding his confidence after the horrendous accident he had here at Silverstone last week. We have to be patient with him as he has been with us. As ever, tomorrow is another day, and we remain hopeful of a good result." JOCK CLEAR, Senior Race Engineer (Jacques Villeneuve) Racing
"We were clearly on for a top-five placing all through qualifying and then, once again, yellow flags caught us out on our last run, and unfortunately, that is the one that counts. It seems to be happening too often at the moment, but hopefully our luck will change soon."