Friday March 24th, 2000

McLaren

Mika Hakkinen: "The team has done a great job and we made a lot of progress with the car during today's running. However we will not see the real potential until tomorrow when we run in maximum trim. I'm happy with the way things are going and feel comfortable that we can qualify well."

David Coulthard: "We experienced a couple of problems with the rear of the car, which meant that we lost some time in the second session so I didn't get as many laps as I would have liked. Otherwise we went through a pretty normal Friday programme and with Mika and me in the top three we are looking forward to tomorrow's qualifying."

Ron Dennis: "Relatively troublefree practice save for David missing some laps with a small problem."

Ferrari

Michael Schumacher: "I am reasonably happy with the work we have done today. The track is better, even though there are still some bumps, which make it quite difficult to drive. We are about where I expected to be. Friday is now more exciting as we are closer to our main competitors than in the past. I am sure we will be competitive in qualifying. The car's set up is good and we know how to improve it further."

Rubens Barrichello: "I was happier with the car in the morning than this afternoon. But we still have time to make changes, to get the car the way I like it. I went off at the Senna S curve because my foot rest broke. It was a scary moment. The track is bumpier than I had expected. All in all it has been a good day and we will be in good shape for qualifying."

Jean Todt: "As expected, it is evident that the changes to the track have made it faster. Today we concentrated on finding the right set up. Given that the cars are handling well, I think we can improve our performance with the right settings. I predict that qualifying will be a close fight between ourselves and our main competitors."

Arrows

Pedro de la Rosa: "It was catch up for us and I was very pleased to manage that last run as it proved my fastest. The car was pretty good, and it was more me getting used to the track. We played a little bit with downforce levels and we had a reasonable balance. We didn't use new tyres and I think it is the right way to go for tomorrow."

Jos Verstappen: "We had a good session and did some very useful work. The lap time was good considering the amount of fuel we had on board. It is really looking good for tomorrow. At the end I was pushing trying a different set of tyres and a different balance and I just ran too wide and spun."

Tom Walkinshaw: "We have to be optimistic about our chances, but it is early days. Both drivers made the most of the session and considering the state of the tyres and their fuel loads set good times."

Prost

Jean Alesi: "I am very happy for the whole team because all the hard work we have done is starting to pay off. For us, it is the start of some real development now. This weekend is certainly going to be better than the one in Melbourne. It is the true signal that better things will follow. The Interlagos circuit remains as exhausting as ever and the changes made to the surface have not done very much about the bumps, in particular on the main straight in front of the stands where the cars bottom very much. But I am very confident after today that we are going in the right direction."

Nick Heidfeld: "Obviously, I am disappointed to complete only 19 laps after having some serious problems, firstly with the engine, which we changed between the sessions, in the morning and then secondly with the gearbox this afternoon. All this meant, naturally, that I was not able to do any work on the set-up of the car at all and it was also not enough track time for me to learn my way around the circuit. It looks nice, but I don't really know it, so I just hope I get to know it better tomorrow!"

Alain Prost: "The whole team should be satisfied with the work done recently since we have been able to identify the problems which worried us before. Clearly, our lack of testing mileage was the source of our difficulties. We have had a very constructive day with Jean. We had no serious problems and this allowed us for the first time to really work on the car. Unfortunately, this morning, like this afternoon, we had a lot of problems which prevented Nick from working properly. This is sad for him at the time when he wanted to learn the circuit. He began the first session with the spare car, but after seven laps we had to change the engine. This afternoon, the gearbox had a mechanical problem. We are sorry we could not take full advantage of this first day of free practice and we will do our best to improve things and give him a good car tomorrow. Jean is very happy with the behaviour of the chassis and it is encouraging for us to be able to test some new things, which we had not tried before. The potential is clearly here and this gives us the boost to do our utmost this weekend. "

Jordan

Jarno Trulli: "I am very pleased with how the session went today. Last week at the test in Silverstone I made some big improvements to the balance of the car and I am very happy because I felt the same improvements today. It was very good to have a trouble free session and I was able to continue to make improvements to the car's set up."

Heinz-Harald Frentzen: "We did a good job today doing our homework for the race. There were no problems and we gathered some important information which we can work on for tomorrow and Sunday."

BAR

Jacques Villeneuve: "47 laps is a huge amount to complete on Friday. We were quick straight away and haven't really changed that much on the car. I'm pretty happy. McLaren and Ferrari are still out in front, but we are in the middle of the next group. For tomorrow I hope we can do a little better than we did in Australia, I would like to qualify in the top six which would give us a great chance in the race."

Ricardo Zonta: "I missed almost all of the morning session with a gearbox problem. It is a big blow to lose this time, but we have made some good progress this afternoon. The car gets better every time we make changes and the engine feels strong again. The biggest problem is over the bumps. They have resurfaced the track, but there are still some places where you can lose control of the car."

akefumi Hosaka, Managing Director, Honda R&D: "The temperatures here are much greater than we expected and this has a big impact on the engines. The cooling requirements are more severe than we experienced in Melbourne, mainly because of the altitude, but also because the circuit is extremely dusty. At the start of the session the drivers were saying they couldn't look ahead because of all the dust. We are a little surprised at how much quicker the cars are this year already. The new surface gives much better grip, but the bumps are still a problem for the drivers. Despite the heat, we have had no difficulties with the engines, which is good news if it continues to be hot during the weekend."

Benetton

Giancarlo Fisichella: "We have achieved a good set-up base today. I found the circuit was really bumpy on the straight this morning but the rest of it was better than last year. On my final run I got into some traffic so I know I can go faster tomorrow, we just have to work a bit more on traction."

Alexander Wurz: "This morning we made some good progress with the set-up. I had a problem with the clutch but we managed to solve this by the afternoon. Then in the second session we made some improvements to the balance but I spun off on turn four after only 8 laps so I was reduced to being a spectator for the rest of the time."

Pat Symonds, Technical Director: "A very mixed day today. We had a very productive programme with Giancarlo where we worked through our normal Friday routine, the only problem we had on that car was a puncture in the first session which meant we had to change the tyres. But a lot of very useful work was done and we have quite a good balance on the car. Unfortunately we lost time with Alex's programme due to a minor accident which stranded the car for the remainder of the session."

Sauber

Mika Salo: "The car feels good round Interlagos, and I'm reasonably happy with the way things went for me today. My biggest problem is one I can't do anything about: the track surface. The bumps on the main straight are just unreal, and they really compromise the way you have to set the car up. But given that the circumstances are the same for everyone, I think we are okay."

Pedro Diniz: "I ran with a reasonable fuel load all day but this afternoon, for some reason that we are currently investigating, my car was down on the straightline speed I'd had this morning. Since the track was improving all day, I am sure I would have gone quicker without that little problem."

Peter Sauber: "With 39 and 38 laps respectively for Mika and Pedro, we have achieved a Grand Prix distance without any major problems today as we focused on set-up work for the race. Taking into account our tyres and the fuel loads we were running, I am happy with Mika's time. But it's important that we improve Pedro's set-up so that he can close the gap to Mika."

Jaguar

Eddie Irvine: "In the morning I was changing gear then it started cutting out. But the first few races are going to be difficult for us; we knew that. In the afternoon session we had a programme to do, and we did it. We had a lot of fuel on board, so we're probably alright, and we didn't use new tyres. There's still room for improvement in handling - there's half a second there straight away. I didn't change springs and bars the whole session, because we had the wing to try, and had to do it properly."

Johnny Herbert: "We made progress, but we stopped half an hour before the end of the last session. It's not engine related. But every time we were going out we were making big, big jumps, so stopping doesn't help too much, especially when the track is going quicker. We'll see how we fare tomorrow; we've got to have a trouble-free day. But we haven't had any of the problems we had last time."

Paul Stewart, chief operating officer: "Thirteenth position for Eddie may not look that impressive, but considering how tight things are I expect we can make a considerable move up the order tomorrow. Johnny didn't get enough running in towards the end to set a significant time, but he feels he has plenty in hand."

Williams

Ralf Schumacher: "I am not so satisfied with the result of today's free practice. At the moment the car hasn?t achieved the level of performance that the BMW WilliamsF1 Team showed in Melbourne. In some corners we have still a bit of understeer, I guess because the track was pretty dirty and slippery, but I am quite confident that the FW22 will improve for tomorrow?s qualifying and for Sunday's race."

Jenson Button: "Even if I have done only 27 laps today I think that this circuit is really good. Of course, having run so little, it doesn't really show the capabilities of both myself and the car. I am sure that when I did my time it wasn't the best moment to be on the circuit as it was very hot. Anyway it has been good so far. We have tried a few different things in the car that seemed to have worked. I just wished I could have had more running today."

Patrick Head, Technical Director: "Although Jenson did a very good job getting to a competitive time for the fuel and tyre conditions he was running in the first session, unfortunately we had a technical problem and he wasn't able to run the whole of the second session and lost quite a bit of track time. Otherwise we have done some good homework for the race with Ralf and expect to put our attention more towards qualifying and a grid position for tomorrow."

Dr. Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director: "In the morning session both engines ran trouble-free. The relatively high temperatures and the long uphill part before the start/finish line put the engine under pressure. Ralf ran with no problems in the second session while Jenson had an engine failure. It was unexpected and we are analysing the data to identify the reason. Although the engine was changed very quickly at the end there was not enough time left, even for an installation lap."

Minardi

Marc Gene: "Today we did a very good job on the car's set-up. I feel pretty satisfied because I set a good time although still on used tyres. I feel very confident for tomorrow's qualifying session."

Gaston Mazzacane: "We worked trouble free over the first day of practice and this helps me to improve my skills. During my last lap, in the third sector, I made a mistake and I finished off line. I went over the dirty part of the track and lost almost half second otherwise my time could have been around the tenth position."