NewsOnF1 - 26 April News

26-Apr: At the Friday press conference for the Spanish Grand Prix, Heinz Harald Frentzen was happy with setting the second fastest time and believes it was due to progress made during testing last week and said "Generally, we have been waiting for the test at Silverstone after the season has started. We had a lot of things on the list to do, to try, basically to find the direction we want to go and that was the time that we could do some experiments. We had a good time there, we had some new bits on the car and we are certainly on the right track, so it was quite useful to test at Silverstone last week. The result today is partly because we have made progress."
As for whether he'll be on the front row of the grid for Qualifying he said "I will have to tell you tomorrow. Just wait. I think we are closer to the top ten than ever. We haven't done anything different really to what we do on Fridays recently. We also have got an upgrade from the Ford Cosworth here and I think we are a step further, generally."

David Coulthard indicated that he still giving it 100% despite the lack of performance from McLaren and said "It is still the same. My goal is always to get 100 percent from myself and from the car, and of course you want to be quickest in every session and you want to win the race. That is the goal and that is the motivation and the reality is you make best of the situation that you have and that is what you have to do. Clearly there was disappointment at the start of the season because the reality of our performance level has only been coming to us as we go through each of the races. But I am still motivated to do the tests, to do the work, and to get out there and race, and in many ways, not that this is something that I would recommend to anyone who is out in front at the moment, but there is a bit more battling that goes on in the middle of the top pack than if you are just running at the front."
David is hoping for a better position than 12th in Qualifying and said "Well, we certainly had some balance issues today and clearly we will study the data closely to try and improve that for tomorrow. You never truly know your performance until you get to qualifying except if you're running quickest and you've still got quite a bit of fuel on then you can feel quite confident. Clearly that's not the position we're in at the moment. I think that we just need to be patient and see what tomorrow brings us."

Adrian Newey (McLaren Technical Director) believes that this track suits Bridgestone tyres and said "This circuit has been very kind to us over the years. I think this year, for sure, it's going to be difficult. We knew that coming here, Bridgestone against Michelin, there have been some races where Michelin have had an advantage. Equally there are going to be races where they are going to be disadvantaged and our feeling, coming to this race, was that this will be one of the disadvantaged races. We knew it would be a little bit difficult here. We're still very happy overall with our tyre choice, though. We've just got to work to do the best job we can here."
Adrian admitted they are on a steep learning curve with Michelin but their partnership is part of a long term strategy and said "For sure we are going through a learning curve on how to best use the Michelin tyres and whenever you have a change of tyre manufacturer that is likely to be the case. The tyres are quite different in many ways to the Bridgestones we have been used to previously so we are trying to understand how to best adapt our car to suit the characteristics of the Michelins. I think it is something we went into with our eyes open, we knew that was likely to be the case and how it would pan out this year was kind of unknown but it was from my point of view very much the intention of it being a long-term strategy and we wanted to make a few changes this year that will hopefully put us in a stronger position next year."

Ross Brawn (Ferrari Technical Director) doesn't believe they are disadvantaged due to their limited testing at this track and said "I don't think it's a disadvantage, no. I think the preparation of the front teams, certainly is such that there's very little track advantage that remains in Formula One these days. We've done enough testing here to understand what's happening. In the old days, perhaps, where a team would get dialled into a particular track and it was difficult. I remember Adrian was always very good at Silverstone. He had that well sorted out - the old Silverstone track - and it was more difficult to compete there. But I don't feel at any disadvantage at Barcelona. I think Imola helped us a little bit because we were the only team who tested there before the season started and there were a couple of little things we found, and because the weather was so difficult on Friday and Saturday for sure I think that helped us."
Ross explained more about Ferrari's new transmission system and said "There were a lot of good stories about our transmission, some of which were quite interesting. Really all it is is a smaller and lighter transmission with an improved change. I think to be honest we had a little bit of old technology in the gearbox when I arrived at Ferrari and we never really had a good opportunity to correct that because each year it seemed to be too late to start a new transmission. So two years ago we did start a new transmission and I have to say it is probably more in line with the sort of transmission that Williams or McLaren are using now, but it was quicker and more efficient than what we had. I think the main advantage of a new transmission was that it is a very integrated package with the engine and the rear suspension. I think it has set a good standard in terms of how well integrated it is and how efficient it is in that respect and a Formula One car is all about packaging, finding the right combination of engine, gearbox, suspension, aerodynamics, putting everything together with as little compromise as possible and optimising all the areas and I think it is a very nice little transmission. We had some reliability issues at the start of the season which is why we didn't race the car in the first couple of races. It is difficult to quickly respond to transmission issues because the parts take so long to make. But we did get the pieces in the end and touch wood it has been okay so far."
He also criticised Honda for supplying two teams and said "I think it is clear that the successful teams in Formula One, and Renault have taken that route now, have to be one entity, they have to be as one, the chassis and the engine. I always thought that was one of the potential strengths of Ferrari. Maybe it hadn't been in recent years, but I think it is a strength of Ferrari now. To me the car is a car, it is not an engine, it's not a chassis, it is a car. And I think Honda have to look at working like that if they are going to be successful and I think if there was an area you could criticise their approach it is the fact that they still look like an engine supplier as opposed to a partner and in my view they need to get together with a team and become one entity."

Mike Gascoyne (Renault Technical Director) indicated that Renault have achieved their initial target for this season which was to become on of the 4 top Constructors but also indicated that there is more to come and said "I don't think it has been better than we expected. We said we wanted to be in the top four in the championship. We didn't expect to be challenging for race wins but we wanted to be solidly in the top four and I think we have achieved that and then you look to try and be more competitive with the top teams. So yeah, it's been a good start to the year and we've got to look to develop and get closer to the front.
There's a lot of development gone on the car from the start of the season. I think we are becoming more competitive and today has shown that as well."

26-Apr: What the teams and drivers said following Friday Practice at Barcelona ... Report

26-Apr: Spanish GP – 2nd Friday Practice Session: Michael Schumacher remains at the top of the timesheets ahead of Heinz Harald Frentzen and Jenson Button. Rubens Barrichello, Olivier Panis and Enrique Bernoldi make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Report ... Notes

26-Apr: Spanish GP – 1st Friday Practice Session: Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time of the session ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa. Kimi Raikkonen, Jarno Trulli and Heinz Harald Frentzen make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Report ... Notes

26-Apr: "Tyres could stop Ferrari's run" is the title of the 10th issue from the Diagnosis and Prognosis Series for the 2002 season. In this issue, the Heretic looks at the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix - Issue 10

Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix Schedule:

Session	Time (Local / GMT) - Current local time
Friday Practice Session 1 Friday Practice Session 2 Saturday Practice Session 1 Saturday Practice Session 2 Qualifying Session Warm-up Session Race	11 AM Barcelona Time / 9 AM GMT 1 PM Barcelona Time / 11 AM GMT 9 AM Barcelona Time / 7 AM GMT 10:15 AM Barcelona Time / 8:15 AM GMT 1 PM Barcelona Time / 11 AM GMT 9:30 AM Barcelona Time / 7:30 AM GMT 2 PM Barcelona Time / 12 PM GMT
Go to the Spanish GP Page