Spanish GP: Jaguar Saturday qualifying notes

The second and final qualifying session for tomorrow's Spanish Grand Prix saw Jaguar Racing drivers Mark Webber and Antonio Pizzonia qualify in 12th and 16th places respectively. A hot and sunny Circuit de Catalunya greeted the drivers but because the track temperature was significantly higher for qualifying compared to the morning practice sessions, many drivers were unable to improve upon their times from earlier in the day.

Both Mark and Antonio experienced problems with grip levels but the race preparation work undertaken by the team over the past two days is encouraging. Given the high levels of track mileage generated during the Free Practice sessions, the team's target of achieving reliability is key to the remainder of the weekend and subsequently, a points challenge in the race tomorrow.

Dr Mark Gillan - Head of Vehicle Performance

"Today has been a good day in terms of running and track time. We have been reliable all through the weekend and both drivers have focused on building a race set-up for tomorrow which, given the tyre and set-up choice, has compromised slightly our qualifying performance today."

"Saying that, we are happy with the qualifying performances. Both drivers did a good job out there and given that the track temperature actually dropped towards the end of the session, their times could maybe have been better had they gone out towards the end of the pack. Mark was quite happy with the balance of the Jaguar R4 in the morning Free Practice, albeit suffering from low levels of grip in places."

"Antonio was less happy with the balance of his car and in addition, we are working to correct some understeer from his car. It is, however, a compromise between optimising qualifying set-up versus race set-up. Both our drivers are going into the race with a good balance but given their places on the grid, the challenge of fighting for points is a little harder. Nonetheless, we'll give it our best shot and hope that our reliability target can be achieved."

Mark Webber:

"A good day overall. We spent the morning working on race set-up and on tyres, brakes and fuel. We also concentrated on race strategy for tomorrow. It's difficult knowing exactly where to put your eggs between qualifying set-up and race set- up and consequently, you have no choice but to make a trade-off. In our case, we have focused our efforts on tomorrow's race."

"I was actually aiming for the top ten today but the somewhat higher track temperature worked against us. Overall, we have had a very productive weekend so far and I am looking forward to racing tomorrow. We have tackled a lot of our reliability issues here this weekend and the package is in good shape for the race."

Antonio Pizzonia:

"I am disappointed to be honest. We undertook some good work this morning but I suffered from a balance shift problem with my car. The rising track temperature also meant that the track got slower for my qualifying run but the package is well prepared for the race tomorrow."

"I would have liked to have put the car higher up the order today but it appears that many teams and drivers are suffering from problems - particularly understeer. The team has spent considerable time this weekend ensuring reliability and given how punishing this circuit can be over a race distance, seeing the chequered flag is the goal. With some clever strategy work, one can never rule out a points challenge if you cross the finishing line at this race."

Mark Webber
Position: 12th
Best time: 1:19.615
Chassis: R4-04

Antonio Pizzonia
Position: 16th
Best time: 1:20.308
Chassis: R4-03
T-Car: R4-03

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