Monaco GP: BAR Saturday notes

After a typically tumultuous Monaco qualifying session today, Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis will line up 14th and 18th respectively on the grid tomorrow for what is destined to be an equally tough race. The team have been looking strong all weekend but the combination of traffic woes and a grip deficiency failed to deliver the lap times needed to secure critical top-10 grid positions.

Jacques Villeneuve

"The balance of the car wasn't too bad considering we've been working mainly with the tyres so far this weekend. On my first two runs I had traffic so I knew there was a better lap to be done than the first two. It was just a question of attack, attack! I've started further back than 14th before and managed to finish in the points so anything is possible here. It's a long race; you have to be fast and not make any mistakes. That's the key to Monaco."

Olivier Panis

"I'm really disappointed with 18th today because qualifying has been much better for me over the last few races. The team have done a good job throughout the weekend and we took the right direction with the tyres. My third run was definitely the quickest and I was four tenths up in my first two sectors, but then I was blocked by Yoong in the last sector and it ruined a good time for me. I wasn't able to improve on the last run and 18th is where I have to start the race. Qualifying is critical here but, unfortunately, the car we have at present isn't good enough. It will be a tough race for us now but we have to make the best of it and look for every opportunity tomorrow."

David Richards,team principal

"Monaco presents many unique challenges and we seem to have experienced most of them this weekend. Olivier missed his best lap due to traffic but that's the same for everybody here. Overall, we just couldn't get enough grip to challenge the top 10. Just as qualifying is very important here, so the race delivers some extraordinary results. The task now must be to get both cars to the finish."

Driver/Chassis
Jacques Villeneuve/BAR004/07
Olivier Panis/BAR004/08
T-Car - JV/BAR004/02

-bar-