Italian GP Tyrrell Friday qualifying notes

September 8, 1995 Italian Grand Prix - Qualifying on Friday

Mika Salo and Ukyo Katayama set the 14th and 19th times in today's first qualifying session for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix. Mika, who's driving for the first time in Monza, improved his lap times continually and set his best time on the last flying lap on his second set of tyres (1 min 29.535 sec). Ukyo Katayama set his best time (1 min 31.399 sec) on the third flying lap with his first set of tyres. He went out again at the end of session when the track was quicker but unfortunately spun off at the first chicane. Mika Salo: "The car was fine, we had a good balance. I just had a little understeer. I am disappointed by my lap times because it is not where we should be on the provisional grid. I like the circuit and it is easy to learn."

Ukyo Katayama: "I wasn't happy with the amount of throttle pedal travel in today's set-up and I had problems getting the exact amount of power I needed. That was why I lost the car at the first chicane and went off." Harvey Postlethwaite, Managing Director - Engineering: "Mika did a very good job today. He went quicker and quicker on a new track for him with difficult changing conditions like we had today. It was unfortunate for Ukyo because the track was quicker at the end of the session and he would have improved his time."

"Today we ran the fly-by-wire throttle developed by Tyrrell in conjunction with Pi Research. The real benefit of this system is helping the driver control the engine power in conditions of low grip. Of course one of the circuits where there is not a large advantage is Monza because it is a series of straight line blasts. But our system is working well and we are learning to set it up to suit each driver. We are quite pleased and expect to see more benefits in the next few races."

Mr Kimura - Yamaha F1 Project Leader: "We are using the latest C spec version of our OX10C, which we will use tomorrow. We will fit new C spec engines for the race."