NewsOnF1 - 10 May News

10-May: At the Friday press conference for the Austrian GP, Takuma Sato admitted that he has tried too hard sometimes causing a number of incidents however he doesn't feel to bad about it and said "I've obviously been trying very hard, as much as possible. Sometimes it's a bit difficult to get balance in the car and then it's very very tricky plus I was doing completely maximum attack and sometimes I made a mistake, but that's the way to find the limit. For me, it's not feeling too bad,"
As for the Austrian track, Sato enjoys it and said "From a racing aspect, it's the first time here. It's a great circuit, I think, up and down, very good high speed corners and tricky low speed corners and then you are using a lot of the kerbs here which is a great feeling."

Rubens Barrichello indicated that he was very happy to renew his contract with Ferrari but that won't affect his driving much and said "I feel that it may look this way from the outside when you're under pressure and you don't have a contract, you look like you're under pressure, but you just have to perform calmly, just stay quiet and do your job. If you're thinking 'Oh, I don't have contract, I have to do well for them to see me and sign me' that's too bad. So basically I've been quite well, I've been just nicely doing my job, not caring too much about the future so right now there's a lot of comfort knowing that I have another two years with a fantastic team like Ferrari. But it doesn't change the approach, it doesn't change the attitude, nothing."
Rubens is hoping to grab his second pole this season and said "Obviously I've been trying the whole time, there's no question. If you end up second or third, that's a fact and that's it - you have to work better next time. Friday times don't mean much at all. You could see today, I had three sets of tyres and people were doing different types of things. What really matters is qualifying tomorrow and the race. The thing to say is that I am really happy with the car, really happy with the situation and I just have to find the optimum set-up for tomorrow afternoon, which is still not the case because we have only run on high fuel."
Barrichello didn't answer a question regarding the possibility of team orders if he was ahead of Michael in the race and said "I don't like to read too much into the future. We wait until Sunday and then we see what's going to happen. If we get worried about too many things we are burning energy and it's not worth it so let's wait until Sunday and see."

Ralf Schumacher admitted that it will be difficult for them but they will be closer to Ferrari and said "It is still going to be a very difficult race for us. We still haven't figured out what tyres to take yet and there's a bit work left to do on the car, I would say. Overall, we should be closer to Ferrari than we were in Barcelona but we will see how close."
As for why so many drivers had incidents during the afternoon session, Ralf said "I don't know. For me it was a technical reason, that's why. I had an incident at turn one which was simply because I was on the brakes too late, but in turn two...It's always like that if you try to brake your car down from over 300km/H, it's a bit difficult sometimes, isn't it? There's a lack of grip too. There was a lot of wind, especially in the second session when it picked up a bit and there was a following wind into that second turn and that's why, I guess."

Gerhard Berger was confident that this track suits their engine and said "This circuit is definitely a bit better for us. At Barcelona, we couldn't use the engine in the way that we use it here. It should make a bit of a difference, it should bring us a bit closer to Ferrari, hopefully close enough to put some pressure on them but we will see tomorrow and Sunday. But as you say, this circuit has a lot of full throttle and that's good for us."

Niki Lauda has watered down the expectations from Jaguar at the British GP in July and said "It is correct that we employed four new aerodynamic people out of various other teams who started to work a couple of weeks ago. So basically what we are doing now is getting a new step-by-step aero package on the car. The first step will be in Silverstone, but it doesn't mean that we expect the car now suddenly to be at the front of the grid, which is impossible. So the aero package will be changed at Silverstone in small steps, and the result I cannot tell you now because the wind tunnel test is not finished. The real answer to all your questions is that up to Silverstone on the aero package there is nothing we can do. So basically our performance will not change much, we can do better on certain circuits where aero is not so important. If aero is important, like at Barcelona, we do less good. So the first step will be introduced in Silverstone but then we have to continue to work. You cannot expect us suddenly to be much quicker."
As for his driver's contractual situation he said "Eddie's contract in on the paper over at the end of the year. Pedro has another contract for next year. But it is not decided what is going to happen so we have to wait and see. First we have to improve the car which is our biggest problem and then we can think about drivers."

Gustav Brunner admitted that this year's Toyota F1 car will only do well on the less technical tracks like this one and said "We had a lucky start in the season and we had a low in Imola and Barcelona, but those circuits are very technical and you need a good car there, which we don't have yet. This is an easier circuit, more braking and acceleration, and we have a good engine. If we do a good job as a team we could do reasonably well"
He also admitted to having preformed better than expected and said "We have done better than we had expected. Our target was to finish as many races as we can and we have picked up some points so we have been lucky there. This has created some ambitions and we want some more points."
He also described his two drivers as 'solid diamonds of the team' and said "They both are experienced and they are both doing a fantastic job. Our team is very happy with them. You could say they are the solid diamonds of the team, like the engine. The engine is also in a good stage. The chassis is lacking. I must admit it, but obviously you need the structure in place to make chassis development."

10-May: What the teams and drivers said following Friday practice in Austria ... Report

10-May: Austrian GP – 2nd Friday Practice Session: Rubens Barrichello sets the fastest time of the session ahead of team-mate Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. Kimi Raikkonen, Allan McNish and Enrique Bernoldi make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Report ... Notes

10-May: Austrian GP – 1st Friday Practice Session: Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time of the session ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa. Nick Heidfeld, Giancarlo Fisichella and Takuma Sato make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Report ... Notes

Austrian 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 Spielberg Time / 9 AM GMT 1 PM Spielberg Time / 11 AM GMT 9 AM Spielberg Time / 7 AM GMT 10:15 AM Spielberg Time / 8:15 AM GMT 1 PM Spielberg Time / 11 AM GMT 9:30 AM Spielberg Time / 7:30 AM GMT 2 PM Spielberg Time / 12 PM GMT
Go to the Austrian GP Page