Japanese GP 1998 - Qualifying, Comments

Drivers

Jean Alesi

"Today the car felt much better than it did yesterday, and I am happy
with my performance. I think I got everything out of the car that it had to
offer."


Rubens Barrichello

"I'm disappointed to have qualified where I did after arriving here in
a positive frame of mind following our recent test programme. I felt I got
the maximum out of the car but we couldn't find that extra bit we thought
we would in qualifying. I tried everything I could set-up wise but
struggled for balance throughout the session. I'm looking forward to the
race but I'd prefer to be attacking it from higher up the grid."


David Coulthard

"I am happy to be third on the grid because I have continued to
improve throughout the weekend and I am now significantly quicker than
Irvine. I am loosing some time through the first sector but as I only
managed one proper run in qualifying there is plenty of scope for
improvement."


Giancarlo Fisichella

"We still have problems. The car suffers too much understeer in the
quick corners and oversteer in the two slow corners. In addition we do not
have enough grip at the exit of the corners. I tried to push as much as I
could, but during my last lap I went in the gravel. Tomorrow, I hope we can
perform better with the racing set-up. However,for me,I would be happy if
it rains!"


Mika Hakkinen

"Naturally I am a little disappointed but being second is not such a
big problem. Of course I would prefer to be on pole but it doesn't give me
any more pressure not to be. My last lap was pretty quick until I went wide
and I am annoyed with myself, especially as the conditions were ideal for
the tyres and the car was handling really well."


Johnny Herbert

"We improved things today, and in any case the track itself was better
with more rubber down. Everything that we did was aimed at calming the car
down, because at Suzuka you really need something that is driveable. If the
behaviour in corners is edgy, you just aren't going to get the lap time.

As this is my last race with Red Bull Sauber Petronas, after three seasons,
it's really nice to regain the qualifying form I showed at the beginning of
the year, and though I seemed to meet just about everybody else and was
unable to go quicker still on my last run, I'm really hopeful of finishing
my time here with a good result tomorrow."


Damon Hill

"It was a really tough fight today and it is disappointing to finish
behind Williams. Everyone was pushing to the absolute maximum and our car
was on the limit, so I don't think there was anything more we could have
done. Our biggest problem was mechanical grip which cost us time in the
slow speed corners. But there is no point dwelling on that; we need to
concentrate on the race and see if we can have a good start and the right
strategy to win us some points."


Eddie Irvine

"My exhaust problem this morning did not help this afternoon. However,
the car was much better this afternoon on a low fuel load and with new
tyres. Fourth is the best I could do. One of my runs was spoilt by yellow
flags, but at least I am ahead of the pack. I decided not to go out for the
final run once we realised my fourth place was safe as I could not have
matched Coulthard's time. It also meant I have saved a set of tyres for the
race. What can I do to help Michael? Looking at his performance today,
maybe I am the one who needs help!"


Michael Schumacher

"Of course it is nice to be on pole position today. I am happy for all
the team members, who worked almost 24 hours a day over the last four
weeks. They were able to improve the car in all areas. Goodyear has also
done a fantastic job. They are really going for it and want this title as
much as we do. This is only qualifying today and so we must not get too
excited about it. Instead, we must concentrate on tomorrow's race. Having
Eddie on the second row, not too far behind is encouraging. He had a
problem with the car today and should go better tomorrow and may be in a
position to get past Mika."


Shinji Nakano

"Today my car was slightly better with respect to yesterday's free
practice, even if I had still some oversteer problems, that went away a
little at the end of the qualifying session. To be honest, I think that
today's result represents the limit for our car on this track also because
I am sure I gave 100%, as well as the whole Team. I lowered my time
constantly, except for the second 'out' , when I was slightly delayed by
some traffic. Probably, in my last 'run', I should have pushed harder, in
fact I didn't make any mistakes but the time did not come. Now I have to
concentrate on tomorrow's Grand Prix, because I know that we always have
better performance in race condition and therefore I hope to greet and
thanks my public with a good result."


Olivier Panis

"After the problems that we ran up against yesterday, I want first of
all to thank the Prost-Peugeot team who provided me with a car that that I
was able to push to the limits today,' says the French driver. 'We were
developed the performance of the AP01, which is our usual race car, by
analyzing the performance data that we gathered yesterday. The car still
lacks a bit of speed, but it was perfectly balanced during the qualifying
session. By working hard on the car, we were able to put in an improved
performance."


Ricardo Rosset

"It was a shame that I injured my neck during yesterday's second
session because I really wanted to get a good result for everyone on the
team. Certainly, the way things were going early Friday, the situation was
looking good. Perhaps it's a result of the accident at this year's Belgium
Grand Prix, but the pain was so bad I couldn't move my neck this morning. I
had a scan on my spine and fortunately there is no problem with the discs.
I had a couple of pain-killing injections before going out for qualifying,
but it was still very uncomfortable and difficult to concentrate. As a
result, I spun on my second qualifying run. The team then prepared the
spare car and I went out with just a few minutes remaining the session. I
tried everything I could, but just wasn't able to improve my time. It is
disappointing to end the session this way."


Ralf Schumacher

"We always knew it would be very tough to beat McLaren and Ferrari but
it is disappointing to have been beaten by Williams today. Seventh place is
not what we had hoped for, but I ran right at the limit and could not make
any improvement on my time. It is good that Benetton is behind us, but we
need to win points to improve our Championship standing, so we will be
working hard tonight on race strategy."


Toranosuke Takagi

"I don't normally like to use bad language, but on this special
occasion, my home Grand Prix, I definitely could. On my second run, the
tyres were good and on the 'splits', I was about half a second quicker than
my first run. Unfortunately, the brakes locked on the approach to the
chicane and what would almost certainly have been a lap quick enough for
13th place on the grid was spoiled. Still, reality isn't 'if' and 'maybe'.
To be fair, my tome today is not that bad and a number of our close rivals
are only a few tenths quicker. Hopefully, we can reverse this situation
tomorrow. We will concentrate on refining our race set-up in the morning
warm-up so that I can put in the best possible performance in front of the
Japanese fans."


Jarno Trulli

"Luckily, I managed to win back two seconds on my next three runs! As
you probably know, I only took the wheel of the AP01 B this morning, and
the tuning set-up that we used on the AP01 yesterday didn't suit it. It
would have been easier to switch back to the AP01, but I preferred to look
on the positive side and work on developing the performance of the new car.
The time we made up on the next runs, after carrying out just a few
modifications, proves the AP01 B's potential. If I had been using the AP01
B since Friday, I would have finished in the top ten for sure."


Esteban Tuero

"I hope that last qualifying of my first F1 season would be a bit
better, to be able to start from a higher position on the grid, but
unfortunately it was not like this. During the session we changed the set
up of the car to find a better aerodynamic balance and be able to gain
something, but unfortunately I could not gain as much as I wished and I
should have, even if I made my best."


Jos Verstappen

"It was a difficult qualifying session. The balance of the car changed
since this morning's practice so we couldn't find the ideal set-up. I went
on the grass during my second run and decided to abandon the lap. My final
time was quicker than the ones I did earlier today but the improvement was
not enough. We are going to look at the data overnight to see how we can
improve the balance of the car for tomorrow."


Alexander Wurz

"I drove the car close to the limit, but unfortunately on my last run
I held up Johnny Herbert because I didn't see him in the mirrors and he
returned the favour! He held me up, of course, and that meant it was
difficult for me to improve my time. So, I am in ninth place, Giancarlo is
10th, and we have to think carefully for a very intelligent strategy for
the race if we are to take third position in the championship."


Teams

Ferrari

Jean Alesi,
"We were able to make the best of the conditions that presented
themselves. We are satisfied with Michael's first place and Eddie's fourth,
which puts him on the second row of the grid. Eddie did not go out at the
end as it would have been difficult for him to make the front row and those
behind him had used up all their laps and therefore could not catch him. As
expected, tomorrow's race will be very tough and close fought."


Benetton

Joan Villadelprat, Team Manager
"It is not the result we expected for in our scrap for third place in
the Constructors' World Championship. Nevertheless, tomorrow is another
day. We tested a lot with full tanks and on race day we believe the car
will perform well and hopefully we can make a fight for the third
place."


Bridgestone

Hirohide Hamashima, Technical Director
"Although we did not get the pole position here, the gap between
Michael and Mika is very small. Today, Mika impressed me once again by his
aggressive way of driving and if we compare today's result to Luxembourg's
qualifying we can consider we got a better result here. Today's circuit
conditions are much better than yesterday and consequently the lap time is
amazingly almost the same as last year. Mika and Michael's best lap times
from last year show Mika's improvement is also bigger than Michael's on
this track. The last information we had regarding the weather forecast for
the race is that tomorrow it will probably be cooler and cloudy."


McLaren

Ron Dennis, Team Chef
"It is always nice to be on pole but we are very comfortable with our
grid position, particularly as our lap times show we are well ahead of the
opposition. This is probably the only race I have ever come to where coming
second is as important as coming first."

Steve Hallam, Chief Engineer
"It was another very exciting session and we will not be able to know
how fast Mika could have done on his last lap because he slipped off the
track just before the bridge. We are on the front row of the grid with
David in third place splitting the two Ferraris. More than ever, we are
looking forward to tomorrow. I do appreciate that all around the circuit
there are a lot of banners flying from the grandstand. Some of them belong
to the Finnish fans in the crowd, but many of them are being waved by
members of the Bridgestone company who are here to support our
efforts."

Norbert Haug, Mercedes Benz Sporting Director
"A strong performance by Michael Schumacher but we are on target, with
our cars on row one and two of the grid, ahead of Eddie Irvine. With this
we have a better basis for the race than we had at the Nurburgring last
month."


Minardi

Trevor Knowles, Ford Cosworth Support Engineer
"Today we ran M4 engines in the cars for the first time and we had no
problems. Esteban had, just a small problem with the fuel pressure on his
slowing down lap but we increased the amount of fuel in the tank and that
overcame that problem. For tomorrow two fresh M4 engines for the
race."


Prost

Alain Prost, Team Owner
"It was a hard but interesting day. Both Olivier and Jarno found
themselves at the wheel of cars that were pretty well balanced. We didn't
run up against any technical problems, although Olivier's monoseater is
still suffering from power transfer problems and he has certainly reached
the maximum potential possible with the car. As for Jarno, he found it
difficult to start the new car this morning. An extra day of trials in the
AP01 B was certainly what was needed, but it's already clear that the AP01
B performs just as well as the AP01, and it's still in the early stages of
development. We'll pursue our work to get the tuning set-up right and we
are concentrating much more on next season than on the Japan Grand
Prix."


Sauber

Peter Sauber, Team Owner
"For the season's last race, our grid positions once again correspond
to our sixth place in the Constructor's Championship. I'm pleased that we
were able to improve since yesterday. For his farewell race Johnny seized
the chance to inch back ahead of Jean."


Stewart

Paul Stewart, Managing Director
"We seemed to lose our way as far as the chassis is concerned today.
Considering Jos was ninth fastest yesterday, we were expecting to be higher
up the grid. We are not exactly sure where the problem lies. We plan to run
a significant set-up change in tomorrow morning's warm-up and make a
decision based on our performance then as to whether we should head in that
direction for the race."

Martin Whitaker, Ford European Director of Motorsport
"Despite all the hard work which has been done and the progress made
since the Luxembourg Grand Prix, the grid positions have not improved -
underlining the competitiveness of Formula One. We have had a trouble-free
Friday and Saturday with the Series 6 engines and hope this will continue
tomorrow when this latest specification of engine will be making its race
debut."

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