Canadian GP: Jaguar Friday qualifying notes

The stewards declared it a full wet qualifying session today as the cars took to the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal for the first of the weekend's qualifying sessions. Rain had in fact started falling quite soon into the morning Free Practice session and come 1400hrs, there was no let up in the weather conditions. All runners struggled for grip and in the end, keeping the car on the tarmac turned into a bigger challenge for some than achieving a good qualifying time.

Jaguar Racing drivers Mark Webber and Antonio Pizzonia took to the track in 12th and 17th positions respectively and ended up qualifying in 9th and 17th places respectively. Both drivers adopted a relatively cautious approach in an effort to bring the cars home in one piece and given how encouraging the team's two-hour testing session in the dry went this morning, Jaguar Racing is hoping for drier and clearer conditions tomorrow.

Dr Mark Gillan - Head of Vehicle Performance:

"The whole day has actually gone quite well for us. The two-hour morning test was completed with both cars and our job list was fully achieved. We covered set-up, balance and tyre options as well as undertaking some work in preparation for Sunday's race. Mark had a slight off this morning at the last corner which was a combination of driver error and to be honest, balance, which at the time wasn't at it's optimum because of some wing sweep work we were doing."

"We gave Mark the T-car while his race car was repaired but nonetheless, we achieved a lot of mileage this morning and it's a shame the qualifying session was so wet. We are, however, very well prepared for the weekend ahead and credit to both drivers today for doing a good job in what were atrocious conditions."

Mark Webber:

"I'm pleased with what we achieved out there given the terrible conditions. It's extremely tough for any driver just to go out there and manage a quick time. The track has no grip anywhere and aquaplaning was a big problem. Our two-hour test session, however, proved very valuable today and while the rain has spoiled qualifying for everyone, our preparation work from this morning should hold us in good shape for the weekend ahead - providing we have some dry conditions to take advantage of."

Antonio Pizzonia:

"That was quite frightening to be honest. Just keeping the car in a straight line was a challenge because of its tendency to aquaplane in a straight line. The aim of sessions like this is to bring the car home and not get over ambitious. We saw several drivers suffer and spin off today and my goal was to nurse the car home."

"It is a little disappointing given the good work we achieved this morning and had it been a dry qualifying session, we could have reaped some reward from our testing and Free Practice work. It was, of course, very nice to finish P1 after the Free Practice session this morning but the changing weather conditions played a big part. The team is well prepared for the weekend ahead and assuming it's dry tomorrow, we should be able to go out there and realise our full potential around this race track."

Mark Webber
Position: 9th
Best time: 1:36.699
Chassis: R4-04
T-Car: R4-02

Antonio Pizzonia
Position: 17th
Best time: 1.38.255
Chassis: R4-03

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