Saturday March 11th, 2000

McLaren

Mika Hakkinen: I'm very happy to start the season with pole position, which is my third consecutive Australian Grand Prix pole. We had to change the engine this morning, so we only had a small amount of time to find an optimum qualifying set-up. However, we managed to find a set-up which suited the conditions, went out at the right time and got the best out of the tyres. All in all a very good job by everybody.

David Coulthard: After practice this morning, I wasn't at all sure we were going to be able to qualify on the front row since we had to change an engine between the two sessions. I must admit I wasn't happy with the balance of the car during qualifying, but I was still pushing really hard. I lost the back of the car in the last minute of the session and went off and the car sustained some damage at the back."

Ron Dennis: Today's grid positions primarily were achieved as a result of the performance of the mechanics. They changed two engines simultaneously in 42 minutes to give the drivers essential but limited track time in the second session which was vital to the outcome of qualifying. The race is a different matter. The cars are not as we would like them to be, but I'm sure the engineers will focus hard on tomorrow. Whatever the outcome its going to be four races before we can truly establish our competitiveness.

Ferrari

Michael Schumacher: "I am not bothered about being third, because with a long hard race ahead, grid positions will not be so important for the final result. I am confident in our reliability as we have simulated running in hot conditions during testing. I aborted one run because I was not happy with the set-up. We made some changes and I tried again, but then the tyres were not as good and I made a mistake, going off on the grass. At the end, my run was spoilt by the red flags. We have a car which will be competitive in the race and we will try and put the others under pressure and see what happens. This is a big improvement on previous years at the first race."

Rubens Barrichello: "I am happy with the work the team did today and also with the fact that I am not far behind my team-mate on the clock. However, things did not really go the way I wanted. It is a shame as the car was very well balanced and I felt that everything was in place for either Michael or me to take pole. I went out very late because we decided to make some changes to the set-up. My third run was done under a yellow flag and then I was delayed at the weight check, which meant I had no time for a fourth run."

Jean Todt: "I am happy with this qualifying session because of the good performance of our cars, when compared with last year. However, I am also disappointed because, for various reasons, we were not able to get the most out of the cars. Tomorrow, we will see an open race which will be very close and also tough, given that the temperatures will be much higher than anyone has encountered in testing. The team did an excellent job last night to repair Michael’s car in time to be on standby as the spare for qualifying, after it was damaged yesterday."

Jordan

Heinz-Harald Frentzen: Our performance today shows that we are achieving what we set out to achieve - that is to close the gap on the top two teams. I am very happy with how the qualifying session went and I am looking forward to the season and to closing the gap even further. The main thing tomorrow is to finish the race.

Jarno Trulli: With all the problems I have had this weekend, I am very happy to have qualified sixth. Having said that, I am also frustrated because I was only able to make one proper run and I think if I had more time on the track, I would have been much closer to Ferrari or could even have beaten them. But I am really looking forward to the season as there is no doubt that we have a very competitive car.

Eddie Jordan: This result is very encouraging and seems to indicate that we are not too far behind the top two teams. Both drivers did a fantastic job. Jarno did particularly well to finish sixth in his first qualifying session for the team, especially since the reliability problems he had with the car meant he only made one proper run. I would not like to make any predictions for tomorrow as reliability will be a big factor. We hope to finish the race and win points.

Jaguar

Eddie Irvine: "I'm very pleased. I didn't think we'd be anywhere near there to be honest. The handling isn't great, but because the handling isn't great I think we make up in other areas. We maybe sacrificed a bit of handling for grip. So it makes it a bit of a bugger to drive! But everyone seems to be going off [the circuit], so I think everyone's having handling issues."

Johnny Herbert: "We know the car can be quick if it runs. We have an engine issue, but it seems to be happening only on one car at the moment! It's frustrating for everybody, but we've got to get things right if we're going to go forward."

Jackie Stewart: "I think Eddie did a very good job, considering the difficulties we've had over the two days. It might have been nice to get sixth, and I think he might have done it, but there were an awful lot of people going off the road. I'm very disappointed for Johnny. He doesn't deserve that at all. He's been up to the same speed as Eddie all weekend when he's been out there. We've just not been able to give him any reliability that's allowed him to get on with the job. But his car is actually quite well balanced, so jumping into the spare car doesn't help him."

BAR

Jacques Villeneuve: "The car is well-balanced and I think we got as much from it as we could. I could perhaps have improved by two or three tenths, but I would still have been eighth. We are in the middle of the chasing pack, which is around where we expected to be. I will try to attack tomorrow and I hope we can score points. I think others will have to fall off for us to get on the podium, but this is the first race of the year and anything can happen."

Ricardo Zonta: "After the good performance of yesterday, we went the wrong way on set-up this morning. Consequently, when we put new tyres on, I had a lot of understeer. On my last lap it was better, I was two tenths up, but I lost downforce behind Wurz and the back stepped out. The car ran well with lots of fuel yesterday, but with a light load we did not improve, so I'm a little disappointed."

Takefumi Hosaka, Managing Director, Honda: "It is good that Jacques is near the front, but we are not entirely satisfied. Qualifying is about showing your car at its very best on current form and we would have like to be a little quicker. Tomorrow is the real start of Honda's third Formula One generation."

Benetton

Giancarlo Fisichella: "We aimed to get in the first ten so I am fairly satisfied with this position. My first flying lap was good and we made a good improvement for the last run, my split times show I could have been three tenths of a second quicker, but our gamble of going out right at the end didn't pay off because of the red flag that interrupted my last attempt."

Alexander Wurz: "I was ridiculously unlucky with traffic in qualifying today. On every one of my flying laps I had someone in front of me who didn't look in their mirror. It is very frustrating because after the two sessions this morning we had finally got to grips with the tyres and I knew I could have put in some strong lap times. Needless to say, I am very disappointed."

Rocco Benetton: "Well after all the winter testing we now know where all the teams stand and there are no big surprises, although I am disappointed as I feel with a little of luck we could have improved a couple of positions. Nevertheless we made good progress with Giancarlo and although Alex had the potential to achieve a much better result, he seemed to be troubled by traffic to an abnormal degree."

Sauber

Mika Salo: "We didn't do enough running this morning, so it took us a while to get a good balance this afternoon," remarked Salo. "Despite that I had a very good run early on, and was going even quicker on my final run. My first two sector times were much better, so I was very disappointed to come across the red flags after David Coulthard's accident. Without that, I am sure I could have been sixth or seventh."

Pedro Diniz: "I was struggling in qualifying with oversteer, in contrast to the understeer I had yesterday, and just didn't get a good lap together. I also had a lot of traffic, especially Trulli, and then I got sideways in Turn 7. Right at the end I also had a problem with hydraulic pressure, and had to stop."

Peter Sauber: "I am very happy, despite our last-minute disappointment. To be in the top 10 in qualifying is promising at a time when the level of competition is extremely high. Pedro fought to set his car up all weekend, so we know that his result is not representative, but with Mika 10th, with the possibility to have gone faster still, we have made a great start to the new season. Perhaps in some way we have been helped by former motorcycle World Champion Wayne Gardner, who we are delighted to welcome as our guest today."

Arrows

Pedro de la Rosa: "It was not a good qualifying session, but we must be realistic as it can't be that bad when everything goes wrong and we are still 12th on the grid. I could have put the car in the top ten, that is my feeling, as we did not get the most out of it. It is a shame because the team made a great effort. We are now hoping for reliability in the race, and I have to remember I started further back last year and still scored a point."

Jos Verstappen: "In the morning it looked good, even through we knew it was going to be very close. I know we tried hard, but I am certain we can improve. The only thing is now to work on the race set-up for tomorrow. At the end of the session I locked the front brakes when I felt a problem at the rear. I don't know what caused it. I went through the gravel, but didn't damage the car at all."

Tom Walkinshaw: "I can't pretend to be happy with the result as I think we all realise top ten places for both drivers were possible. We have caught up the opposition, as if you compared us today with 12 months ago it is a success story, but we always want more and I know the drivers and the cars are capable of better results."

Prost

Nick Heidfeld: "I am quite satisfied to have taken this position despite all the difficulties we have had this weekend. It was frustrating not to have been able to do any better during the free practice sessions. For the qualifying sessions, we started to improve the car particularly for my last run and I was able to climb back up to 15th. This is very encouraging for the whole team and for the race."

Jean Alesi: "We have had a lot of problems since yesterday, but the most important thing is the race tomorrow. The Australian Grand Prix always springs a surprise. It is a race of the unexpected and we have to take our chances. I have great confidence in the team and I want to extract the best from my car and to deliver a result in this first Grand Prix."

Alain Prost: "Despite all the technical problems we had during the morning we have been able to go through the qualifying session without any major problems. The two drivers have each been able to test different set-ups and to improve the general behaviour of the car. Since the start of the weekend, we have made steady progress but we have not been able to do many laps. We must concentrate now on tomorrow's race, rely on our reliability in order to finish and accumulate more experience in order to make some significant progress."