Malaysian GP: Bridgestone Saturday qualifying notes

Michael Schumacher will spearhead Bridgestone's Malaysian Grand Prix challenge tomorrow after qualifying third on the grid in this afternoon's final qualifying session. The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver had a scare after a gearbox problem in the pre-qualifying warm-up session meant last- minute changes to his F2002. Fortunately for the world champion, he was last to go out to qualify after topping yesterday's time sheets. Teammate Rubens Barrichello meanwhile qualified in fifth place. Best of the rest for Bridgestone was Sauber Petronas driver Nick Heidfeld, who lines up on the third row of the grid in a respectable sixth place. Mild Seven Renault F1 Team drivers Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli took top honours and will line up first and second respectively.

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport

"In my opinion, this afternoon's qualifying result very much depended on fuel and race strategies. This is one of the most difficult rounds on the calendar regarding strategy and it will make for exciting racing tomorrow. Regarding specifications, we could see both soft and hard specs in tomorrow's race and I think their true performances will then show through. I was pleased to see Nick Heidfeld's performance, he should be strong tomorrow."

Ross Brawn, Technical Director of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

"Today's qualifying order reflected the new regulations. We will be concentrating on our race set-up first and I think over the season that will be the best approach. Based on the information we had, we made the best tyre decision but tomorrow's race will be very hard."

Willy Rampf, Technical Director of Sauber Petronas

"We concentrated on our race preparation in this morning's session and our subsequent overall performance this afternoon was as expected. We may have lost a bit in the third sector but the first and second sectors were good for both drivers and I am satisfied with our tyre performance."

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