McLaren Mercedes

Mika Hakkinen: "It's been a good start to the weekend. The car feels quick, it feels very solid, very strong in the corners and it is good to start off being first and second. Everyone has done a good job over the winter and all the hard work in testing during the last month seems to have paid off. Naturally I am annoyed with myself for going off, but at least I now know the limit of the car! However, we mustn?t forget it is only Friday and we have to stay very focused, after all you don't win any points on Friday or Saturday, only on Sunday."

David Coulthard: "It is a good feeling to know that we have put in quick times today but I still need to put in some work in the first section. We only used one set of tyres today and I went off the circuit a couple of times in order to make sure I didn't flat spot them by locking up. I decided a bit of grass on the rubber was a better option than a flat spot. It is far too early to make any predictions for the race"

Ron Dennis: "A good days work by the team, which is particularly satisfying after the last month which has seen everyone in the company putting in a supreme effort. A satisfactory result for both drivers, although of course it would have been better for Mika not to have had an accident. Fortunately he was unhurt but repairing the car will be somewhat time consuming for the mechanics. A impressive job by David in the closing minutes of the session. So far so good - but there is a lot of the weekend left!"

Norbert Haug: "A turbulent beginning. First of all I am surprised by the time differences. I am glad for David who put in a solid performance. But today's results are certainly nothing more than a first indication of where we are."

Scuderia Ferrari

Jean Todt: "We did not do many laps today, so it is difficult to draw any accurate conclusions from our performance. Michael had a gear selection problem which cut out the engine. As he was stopped on the track, the rules state he could not run for the rest of the hour. Eddie was also unable to complete all his planned work load. We made some set up changes and know in which direction we must go. We also have to check out the characteristics of the two types of tyres. Both cars ran with a heavy fuel load. We have other things to try and we should be able to complete our work schedule tomorrow."

Michael Schumacher: "We could not do as many laps as we would have liked to day. As I had to be pushed back to the pits when I stopped in the first part of the session, the rules state I could not go out again. The reason for this was that I could not engage first gear. In the second part, we had a problem with a broken seal which took some time to fix. Therefore we have not yet found the right set up for this track. But I am optimistic that we can improve tomorrow."

Eddie Irvine: "The balance of the car is good, but it is slow. However, I ran with a lot of fuel and we will have to wait until tomorrow to get a more realistic picture. There are no immediate problems, apart from some high speed understeer, which is easy to fix. We continue to make progress with my seat and I have no back problems. I tried both types of tyre today, but in general it is too early to say where we stand."

Williams Mecachrome

Alex Zanardi: "This was my first time driving on the circuit today and I like it very much. For one which is semi-permanent, it has very good run off areas and is very smooth. The car is working well apart from the little problem we had at the end of the second session. I think that a small fire might have burnt through some wires which caused me to stop. But all the little changes we did were in the right direction."

Ralf Schumacher: "In the first session I had some understeer problems which we were able to sort. In the second session we tried to find a good set up for the race. Generally I am happy with the car. Based on the way we performed today, we are confident that we will be able to qualify reasonably well."

James Robinson, Senior Operations Engineer: "Given the limited number of tyres that are now available over the race weekend, we managed to work well on our programme. The cars are getting difficult to drive as the tyres get older which is something we will look at very closely in readiness for qualifying tomorrow."

Jordan Mugen Honda

Damon Hill: "Today was certainly an encouraging start to the beginning of the season. The car ran very well, and we simply worked on making it as balanced as possible. I would say we are optimistic for tomorrow."

Heinz Harald Frentzen: "It is great to be back on the race track again and I enjoy the Albert Park circuit very much. Today was a good start for us - it was a very productive day. The car balance was the main issue and I am pleased with the improved set up we found by the end of the day. There is still a little understeer on some parts of the track which we will try to get rid of tomorrow."

Eddie Jordan: "I am very pleased with the performance of both drivers and cars today. Friday's results do not necessarily mean very much, but I would rather see Jordan where we are than at the back of the field. I hate to make predictions for tomorrow, but our chances look quite good."

Benetton Playlife

Alexander Wurz: "It was a very difficult first session for me because we had quite a lot of problems, including engine mapping and an oil leak. I couldn’t find my rhythm for the circuit at all. In the second session we got rid of most of the initial problems so I could start on my set-up work. I still have a lot of work to do to get the car set up as I want."

Giancarlo Fisichella: "Obviously when you look at the times we are not happy with eleventh and twelfth position. However, on my last run I had a lot fuel and I still achieved a good time. I am confident that I will be in the first three rows tomorrow."

Pat Symonds, Technical Director: "I think we can say it was a productive day. It was our first run in hot conditions and no real problems surfaced. Unfortunately, Giancarlo’s session was cut short by a problem with his throttle and Alexander was hampered by a slow puncture. Nevertheless, as planned, we gathered a lot of information today that is useful for Sunday."

BAR Supertec

Jacques Villeneuve: "We've done quite a bit of work with the car and all is starting well. Looking at the times, except the first two cars, the rest of the field is fairly tight and our position is encouraging. The car has gone well, feels very neutral and is easy to drive. We've had no problems and look forward to Saturday."

Ricardo Zonta: "We had some problems with the car in the second session so I couldn't complete the round. We should have completed more laps to be sure of a good set-up, so I am quite disappointed with the day. I would have liked to be able to do some more laps to get to know the circuit and improve the set up."

Craig Pollock: "I am very happy to have got through this day. Jacques was able to complete 25 laps but it's disappointing for Ricardo because he is the one that needed to run more on a circuit that he doesn't know. I am proud of the team since in this first significant Grand Prix, we have met all of our objectives. We hope to do a lot better Saturday. Bruno Michel, Managing Director, Supertec: "Considering this is the first day for the new team, everything went very smoothly. It was a shame that Ricardo did not get enough laps done today, but we are confident that Saturdays qualifying will go well for both him and Jacques."