French GP BAR race notes

Jacques Villeneuve:
"I am very happy to finish fourth here, especially on a track where we didn't expect to be particularly strong. The start was so good that I even surprised myself! I settled into fifth and was also surprised that the first four didn't pull away from us. We were running throughout the race with more fuel than was necessary to give us flexibility over when to make our stops. I had a good battle with Ralf towards the end, he was better in the corners, but I was quicker on the straights. The only problem was when we came up to lap Diniz, I backed off and braked early to avoid any possible incident."

Ricardo Zonta:
"There's not much to say. I was having problems throughout the opening laps with the balance of the brakes. The fronts were locking up a lot and I was having to brake earlier and earlier. On that lap, the car did not slow at all and I went straight across the gravel into the barrier. Not a good day."

Takefumi Hosaka:
"We are very happy with today's performance. Until now, the technical improvement could not be translated into results, but here we have delivered fourth place, finishing behind only McLaren and Ferrari. Now we can believe that we are moving in the right direction on the technical side and I appreciate the efforts that BAR has made since Canada. This result is thanks to the efforts of the whole team, Honda, BAR and Jacques, the strategy was perfect and Jacques pitted at exactly the right times. Hopefully next time we can get both drivers in the points."

Craig Pollock:
"This has been the most fantastic team work I've seen since the start of British American Racing. Everything our people at the factory have done to develop an effective evolution of our car has paid off in the hands of the drivers. Jacques fought hard today and we are now looking forward to the Austrian Grand Prix. I especially want to add a big thank you to everyone who made this opportunity possible."