German GP BAR Saturday notes

Jacques Villeneuve
"We weren't quick in testing at Monza last week and to be honest we came here knowing we weren't going to be that competitive. Somehow though, we ended up being better than we thought today. We had a lot of ideas and tried some different things. The car actually felt good and we were able to get the balance. That means being 12th and 13th and that's as quick as we were going to go. Maybe on the last run we could have found another couple of tenths and moved up to 10th position but that's about it. We're within a tenth of Jordan this time rather than being half a second behind so that means that we've done some good work. It's always better for us in the race but it's going to be tough for us to get into the points from where we are."

Olivier Panis
"Once again, Jacques and I are together on the grid tomorrow. Everyone has worked hard to get the best car we could for qualifying. The balance is not bad but we haven't found the perfect solution yet. We need to find more grip and more performance because we aren't quick enough at the moment. Tyres are a major factor -- the cars running Michelin were much quicker and more competitive today so that doesn't help. I also lost a little time at the end because of the yellow flags and maybe that could have been my best lap. We all need to stay focused now to improve for the race -- I'm sure we can do better tomorrow."

Malcolm Oastler, Technical Director
"We had a fairly trouble-free day but our position on the grid is obviously representative of our pace at the moment. We didn't have a perfect run in qualifying due to yellow flags and traffic. However, the effect that had wasn't major and everyone has a similar story to tell of course. Our grid position will make life a bit more difficult in the race tomorrow but we've done a lot of work with fuel loads and tyres so we should be in good shape to optimise strategy."

Craig Pollock, Team Principal and Managing Director
"Our qualifying position was realistically the best we could expect from the car at the moment. If we hadn't had the yellow flag on the last run then maybe Jacques could have jumped up a couple of places but that is the limit of the car as things stand. We have to be satisfied with our position on the grid for now but we can continue to make progress before the race and find a little extra performance."

-BAR