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2005 United States Formula 1 Grand Prix
What the teams and drivers said - Saturday

Team and Driver Quotes following Saturday Qualifying

(selected team quotes, for a full team and driver preview click on the team name)

Toyota ( Jarno Trulli - 1st, Ricardo Zonta - 13th )

Dieter Gass - Chief Race Engineer "It's great for Jarno to get our first ever pole position, and we're all very happy with that. He did another very good lap, as we've grown used to seeing from him in qualifying this year, and he just managed to edge out Raikkonen. For Ricardo it was obviously a lot more difficult being the first car out and we saw big differences between the cars in other teams which had an early car and a late car. But he still did a good job to gain some places. Now we must see what happens concerning the tyres for tomorrow. Everyone knows about the problems that we and Michelin have had here. Now we must wait for information from Michelin about the race situation tomorrow. There's talk of bringing another tyre out to Indianapolis, but we need to wait for a decision."

Full Team and Driver Qualifying Report  Back to Top

McLaren Mercedes ( Kimi Raikkonen - 2nd, Juan Pablo Montoya - 11th )

RON DENNIS
"Taking into account our race strategy, the grid positions are very good. Kimi's qualifying lap was tremendous and Juan Pablo also did an excellent job considering his strategy and the fact that he was out second for his qualifying run. A front row position and taking into account our starting performances so far this year Kimi should have a good opportunity to fight for the victory. With our Partner Michelin we are awaiting the final result of the detailed investigation that is being finalised at their research facilities. We along with the other Michelin teams will then decide the appropriate way forward for the race."

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BAR Honda ( Jenson Button - 3rd , Takuma Sato - 8th )

GIL DE FERRAN, SPORTING DIRECTOR
"We had quite a productive day. We made several changes overnight and ran the two cars very differently this morning, and the outcome was that the preferred set-up was the one we ran on Jenson's car. Taku did a good job in qualifying on an unfamiliar car, as did Jenson to qualify third. We finish today reasonably satisfied and positive about our chances tomorrow. With regards to the tyre situation for tomorrow, we await Michelin's decision and have confidence in their judgement."

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Renault ( Giancarlo Fisichella - 4th, Fernando Alonso - 6th )

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
"The disadvantage of our early qualifying slots did not prove to be too great at this circuit, and both drivers completed quick, clean laps. We had time overnight and this morning to work on the balance of the cars, and the drivers and engineers have done a good job in making an enormous improvement to both driveability and performance. We are confident that our grid positions can give us a good platform for the race, and if all things stay normal, we will be aiming for a strong finish."

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Ferrari ( Michael Schumacher - 5th, Rubens Barrichello - 7th )

Jean Todt: “Strategy, reliability, consistent performance from the tyres – these will be, as usual in fact, the decisive factors in tomorrow’s race. If we can operate at a maximum level for all these elements, then I am sure we can aspire to a good result. Now, we just have to see if we can attain this objective.”

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Williams BMW ( Mark Webber - 9th, Nick Heidfeld - 15th )

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):
It was a disappointing qualifying session for us, at least on the face of it. However the practice session long runs were good so we'll see tomorrow. We had to make a lot of adjustments to cope with the higher tyre pressure, now stipulated by Michelin. But this is the same for all the Michelin running teams. So far our car didn't experience any tyre faults. Now we look forward to our strategy tomorrow, when we will see where everybody is. It will be an interesting race tomorrow.

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Sauber ( Felipe Massa - 10th, Jacques Villeneuve - 12th )

Willy Rampf (Technical Director): "Overall we are happy with our qualifying results, particularly when you look at just how close the times are here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Both drivers have strong starting positions."

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Red Bull ( Christian Klien - 14th, David Coulthard - 16th )

Christian Horner, Sporting Director:
“We were hoping for more from this qualifying session than fourteenth and sixteenth, but we’ve got a decent race strategy and I’m sure that we’ll make up places tomorrow in the race. Christian drove a pretty clean lap and David was pushing as hard as possible, but had a moment that cost him a bit of time. But, we’ve scored points from these qualifying positions before and that’s what we’ll be looking to do tomorrow.”

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Jordan ( Tiago Monteiro - 17th, Narain Karthikeyan - 19th )

ADRIAN BURGESS, SPORTING DIRECTOR
“Tiago had a clear and clean circuit and managed to set a reasonable time. Narain did a good job in the first and third sector but was a bit over-cautious in the middle. Overall we are looking good compared to our immediate competition and we are happy with our knowledge for the race tomorrow.”

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Minardi ( Christijan Albers - 18th, Patrick Friesacher - 20th )

PAUL STODDART, Team Principal, Minardi Cosworth

“Both Minardi drivers performed well all day, allowing us to trade lap times with our nearest competitor, Jordan. Indeed, that is how qualifying ended up, with both teams on pretty much an equal footing. We now look forward to tomorrow’s race, which could be very interesting indeed, pending discussions on tyre issues.”

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Bridgestone

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport, said: “The Bridgestone tyres have been performing well here which is what we expected. Michael starts tomorrow from the third row and Rubens from the fourth row and I anticipate that they will both have a strong race. The characteristics of our tyres here should assist them with their race strategy tomorrow. Likewise we expect the Jordan and Minardi drivers to be fighting hard in the race. So far we have had a problem-free weekend but we are working hard with our teams to ensure all the necessary checks are carried out on our tyres ahead of tomorrow’s race.”

Full Bridgestone Qualifying Report  Back to Top

Michelin

Nick Shorrock, Director of Michelin F1 activities “As previously explained we are still continuing our investigations into yesterday’s tyre incidents. This consists of full examinations of all the tyres that ran on Friday and those from Saturday morning’s free practice sessions. In addition we are continuing to work at our research centres in Clermont-Ferrand and Greenville, South Carolina. As yet we have not been able to understand the reason leading to yesterday’s sudden tyre-pressure drop on two Toyotas.
“Using the latest data available we continue to direct our teams in the usage of our products so that drivers could participate safely in today’s free practice and qualification sessions.
“During the build-up to the United States Grand Prix, engineers at our research centres will continue to focus on the product we ran today to decide if we will be able to use this specification safely in tomorrow’s race.”

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