Hungarian GP: Jordan Saturday qualifying notes

Giancarlo Fisichella and Zsolt Baumgartner will line up 13th and 19th on the grid in tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix. The final qualifying session ran comparatively smoothly for Jordan Ford after an eventful morning during which Ralph Firman crashed heavily in the first practice session and was flown to hospital for medical tests. Firman has a severely bruised heel and slight concussion and it was decided in consultation with FIA Medical Delegate Professor Sid Watkins that he would not participate in any further sessions this weekend.

Jordan Ford was granted permission to substitute Zsolt Baumgartner as the driver of car 12 in time for warm-up and final qualifying, making Baumgartner the first Hungarian driver to participate in a Formula One World Championship race. Fisichella missed most of the first practice session while the team investigated the cause of the rear wing failure which led to Firman's accident, however the team is satisfied that the failure will not recur and Jordan Ford's engineers have made the best use of limited track time and data to select a set-up and strategy for the race.

Giancarlo Fisichella:

"It's been quite a good qualifying for us, with maybe the quickest lap of the weekend for me. We did a very good job, the lap was clean and the car balance was good. We did our best."

Zsolt Baumgartner:

"It went quite well, I was quicker than Kiesa, although I was imagining to be in front of both Minardis, I'm not that far off Verstappen. I'm happy that I didn't make any mistakes on the track and this is a great opportunity for me. I'm upset about what happened to Ralph and pleased he's okay. I'm excited about the race tomorrow and want to finish without any mistakes. I'm the first Hungarian driver to race in Formula One and that's a big aim for my country because we've had a Grand Prix for eighteen years. Everyone's dream will come true now but I didn't think it would happen this soon, and at our home Grand Prix!"

Gary Andersson, Director of race and test engineering:

"A very trying weekend so far to be honest! Ralph had an accident very early on today and I'm pleased to say that he's fine, which is the most important thing. Things like that shouldn't happen but unfortunately sometimes they do. I'm very pleased for Zsolt that he is able to step in, having done the running here yesterday, he did a competent job given how few laps he's had."

"Fisichella did a good solid job. I think we've got a very good tyre for the race, very stable and we are really looking forward to it. We're in a reasonable position to have a go at some points. Unfortunately for Zsolt he accidentally switched to the fuel-saving map on his timed lap rather than his in-lap an easy mistake for a novice to make with so much going on - that possibly cost him a second."

GIANCARLO FISICHELLA
13th 1:23.726
CHASSIS NUMBER: EJ13-05

ZSOLT BAUMGARTNER
19th 1:26.678
CHASSIS NUMBER: EJ13-04

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