Japanese GP Saturday Benetton Notes

Traffic and dirt on the track caused difficulties for Fisichella and Wurz in qualifying. The key problem is lack of grip but over the weekend the team has gathered lots of information regarding race set-up.

Giancarlo Fisichella : 14 th - 1'40.261

"I couldn't find a set-up that solved the grip problem that has plagued us this weekend. I could have improved a bit on my last set of tyres, but the track was dirty and so I was slower than before. If we don't find a solution between now and warm-up tomorrow we will have a difficult race."

Alexander Wurz : 15 th - 1'40.303

"Qualifying was quite difficult. The balance was good but there was very low grip and my engine had some hesitations. On my last lap, which would have been my fastest, I had a yellow flag in the last corner so I had to slow down and I lost 1.5-2 tenths there. So this session was quite annoying but there is nothing else we can really squeeze out of the car at the moment."

Rocco Benetton :

"This was a very frustrating day today with a lot of problems with traffic, so I think our best expectations could only have been a couple of places higher on the grid. However we have done a lot of work on high fuel and old tyres so this should pay dividends in the race."