Malaysian GP Saturday Stewart notes

Sepang, Saturday 16th October, 1999 STEWART-FORD NOTES & QUOTES Malaysian Grand Prix: Qualifying

Weather: (Ambient temperature 32 deg C, track temperature 43 deg C, Humidity 58)

Johnny Herbert will start the inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix from fifth while Rubens Barrichello qualified sixth - equalling the Stewart-Ford team's best 1999 qualifying performance from the Austrian Grand Prix earlier this year.

JOHNNY HERBERT Car No.17 (SF3-06) Time: 1:40.937 Position: fifth A very satisfying qualifying session? 'Yes, for sure. I feel so much more confident after my victory at Nurburgring where I proved that I can win and after being quick in last week's Barcelona test things looked encouraging coming to Malaysia. We were quick yesterday and again today and our consistency bodes well for the race. The conditions kept changing throughout the session and we managed to adapt the car very well. It's a real shame that Coulthard relegated me to fifth place on his last lap.'

Will the weather be a factor in the race? 'I don't think the hot and humid conditions will affect me too much tomorrow. I only really feel it when I sit in the garage or get out of the car. When you are driving you learn to focus, get in to a rhythm, and just forget about it.'

RUBENS BARRICHELLO Car No.16 (SF3-04) Time: 1:41.351 Position: sixth What was your target today? 'There is no doubt I could have been knocking on the door of the top four if you look at my first sector time on my last flying lap. Unfortunately I was blocked by another car which ruined any chance of improving on sixth place. But being on the third row is a great effort by the team.'

What was your strategy for qualifying? 'We kept an eye on the movement of clouds and tried to time our runs when there was a little bit of cloud cover but I think generally the conditions improved as the session went on. I think the tyres stood up pretty well so it's going to be an interesting race.'

PAUL STEWART, Stewart-Ford Chief Operating Officer 'It's nice going into the penultimate race with both cars on the third row of the grid. The performance is indicative of what we have been capable of as a team all season long. If we get a good, clean start we should pick up further Championship points. A special word of thanks to Harold, our simulation driver, for his sterling efforts this weekend.'

TYRONE JOHNSON, Technical Manager Ford Racing Research and Vehicle Technology 'Congratulations to everybody in the Stewart-Ford team, Visteon and Cosworth Racing in making all the necessary efforts to get both cars in the top six at the team's first visit to the Sepang circuit. We will stick with our original plan of using Series 3 engines for tomorrow's race as this specification has now proved itself at this circuit.'