Sixth pole position of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, the first for Rubens Barrichello. It is the fourth time that a Ferrari driver has been quickest in qualifying at this circuit. For Rubens it is career pole number ten, while the Scuderia has reached 172.
Jean Todt: It will be nice to see an all-red front row on the grid tomorrow, here in the United States which is Ferrari's biggest market. The cars worked very well and the Bridgestones proved to be excellent over a single lap. Now we come to the most important part of the weekend. A 73 lap race on the Indianapolis circuit which is very hard on engines is very difficult. As usual, the same parameters of reliability, strategy and tyre performance will be the key factors for everyone.
Ross Brawn: We are very happy to have taken the two top spots on the grid. Barrichello's pole is not at all surprising for us. Rubens has been very strong right from the start of the weekend and he did a great lap in qualifying. In some races in this first part of the season, he had some hard times, but now he is on great form. For his part, Michael made a couple of mistakes in this second sector and this probably explains the result. Bridgestone has given us an excellent tyre for this race and if we get a good start, everything is in place for us to get a good result.
Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher will start for the first time this season side by side from the third row of the grid for tomorrow's US Grand Prix, having qualified fifth and sixth respectively.
Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): You can always hope for a better result, but what we have got is not a bad position from which to start the race. Both cars have a good race set-up and we are confident that we can race competitively here. The rear wing levels at Indy are always a compromise between the infield section where high downforce is needed and the straight where low drag is required.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): The result of the qualifying remained open until the very last driver had completed his lap. Our drivers will now start side by side from the third row. Both were not a hundred percent happy with the balance of their cars, but still they feel well prepared for the race. We have not experienced any reliability problems so far. As usual in Indy, the crowd for the Saturday practice sessions is very impressive. I think we can look forward to a great race day.
West McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen will start tomorrow's United
States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from seventh position
after setting a fastest time of 1:11.137. Team mate David Coulthard's time
of 1:12.026 puts him 12th.
Ron Dennis: "Whilst our forward progress is somewhat slow we are nevertheless moving
forward. We feel that we have a good race strategy, which could give us a
few more points."
Norbert Haug: "A good lap by Kimi and a reasonable basis for the race. The gap between
fifth and ninth is just over a tenth of a second, so it will be interesting
to see tomorrow's strategies."
Qualifying for the US Grand Prix proved disappointing for the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team this afternoon at Indianapolis. Jarno Trulli failed to set a time following what the team currently believes to be a steering wheel problem that prevented him from changing gear properly. As for Fernando Alonso, he took ninth spot in an extremely tightly-packed field, and is optimistic for tomorrow's race.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "The times are extremely tight, with only 12 hundredths of a second separating 5th and 9th positions. Unfortunately for Fernando, he has found himself at the back of this group, but we will need to watch the race and our rivals' strategies unfold in order to judge exactly what this signifies. We have worked steadily on the balance of the cars and while it will never be perfect on this kind of circuit, I think we are in reasonable shape for the race. Jarno suffered what we currently believe to have been a steering wheel problem that prevented his car from shifting gears correctly. He only just got out of the pits in time, and then ran wide in Turn 1 when his car remained in top gear."
Denis Chevrier, Engine Operations Manager: "This weekend, we have to consider ourselves as outsiders rather than direct challengers. However, nothing is out of the question from ninth on the grid; the times are very close, and we will need to see how the race develops and which strategies are being employed. Of course, it will be a difficult challenge, but there is every reason for us to aim for a top five position at the end of the race."
Lucky Strike BAR Honda's Takuma Sato and Jenson Button locked out the second row at The Brickyard today in final qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. Taku placed his BAR Honda 006 in third position on the grid, lining up directly behind polesitter Rubens Barrichello. His team-mate Jenson qualified alongside him in fourth and will line up behind Michael Schumacher for the start of tomorrow's 73-lap race.
David Richards, Team Principal: "To have both cars on the second row is a great achievement for the team; and I am pleased that Taku has re-focused his efforts to such good effect. To be qualifying so well at the home of American motorsport is particularly satisfying, coming as it does just a month after Honda swept the board at the "Indy 500". We are in good shape for the race tomorrow, and of course it would be a dream come true if we could replicate Honda's recent victory."
Geoffrey Willis, Technical Director: "We are happy to have both cars on the second row of the grid for tomorrow's race. Conditions for qualifying were quite difficult as the wind got up and there was a certain amount of luck whether a driver got calm or gusty conditions. Jenson was unlucky to get a particularly strong gusts during his lap and lost time through the middle part of the lap but was still able to put in a good time to get on the second row. Takuma in slightly better conditions had a much more consistent lap, taking the fastest sector two to get his third top-three qualifying position of the year.
"Both of the morning practice sessions went well for us and were able to complete our work on race set-up without problems. The car has been good on new or old tyres so we are happy that we have a good strategy and position for tomorrow's race"
Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development: "I am happy with that. Both drivers have done exactly what was asked of them and I think we should be in for a strong race tomorrow."
Team SAUBER PETRONAS drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa will start tomorrow's United States Grand Prix from 14th and 15th position respectively after this afternoon's qualifying sessions.
Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "We know that our cars and drivers are better than their grid positions suggest, and the time difference to our competitors in qualifying is vexing."
Dr Mark Gillan Head of Vehicle Performance: We spent this morning working on balance and also on mechanical and aerodynamic work. Both Mark and Christian did some good work in the car and it was only Mark's incident in the second session this morning that took us away from our planned programme. Mark seemed to brake slightly too late into corner six and it caused him to go off-track, hitting the front of the car and damaging the suspension. The guys did a great repair job and Mark kept the same car for qualifying. The qualifying session was good for us and I am pleased with our grid positions for tomorrow's race. Christian has been gradually improving all weekend and I am looking forward to watching the race tomorrow and seeing how we do. We have been working on our strategy over the weekend and I very much hope that it will stand us in good stead for a points finish here tomorrow.
Mike Gascoyne - Technical Director Chassis: "Although this is one of our best qualifying performances of the year so far, we are all a little bit disappointed that we were unable to get both cars in the top ten and higher up the grid. It is an extremely tight field with only one-tenth-of-a-second separating us from a top five result. Both drivers were unhappy with the grip levels in the second session, which we will look into, but overall we have a competitive package for the race, so we have to target points for both cars tomorrow."
James Robinson: We had a solid day which was trouble free other than a small transmission problem for Giorgio during the morning practice, which the mechanics worked swiftly to fix so he could participate in the second session. The race tomorrow will be about how the tyres hold out for people on two stops versus those on short three stops. How this transpires will be somewhat governed by the track temperatures on the day.
Among the oval-racing fraternity, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is particularly notable for the fact that a change in the track temperature of just a very few degrees can make a significant difference to the amount of grip available. The same appears to apply to the Speedway's road circuit, site of tomorrow's United States Grand Prix. Wilux Minardi Cosworth drivers Gianmaria Bruni and Zsolt Baumgartner both set commendable times in this morning's third and fourth practice sessions, having developed a good chassis balance for their cars. With the ambient temperature rising noticeably as the afternoon's all-important qualifying runs approached, however, track conditions changed and both men found their cars had developed marked oversteer once they were on track. As a result, neither driver was able to match his best time from the morning sessions in qualifying, Bruni and Baumgartner eventually setting the 18th and 19th fastest times respectively.
Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, Wilux Minardi Cosworth: Whilst we are not happy to be starting P18 and P19 in tomorrow's United States Grand Prix, overall, our performance today is as good as could be expected and our times respectable given the current circumstances. We now look forward to tomorrow's race, where our goal will clearly be to get two cars to the finish.
Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport: I would like to congratulate Rubens on his fantastic pole and Michael on his front row position. A Ferrari-Bridgestone front row is always good to see and it will allow the team to make best use of their chosen strategy. The Bridgestone Potenzas provided the drivers with good single-lap performance today and although you never know how much fuel our rivals are carrying, it was very pleasing to see. The other Bridgestone cars are a little further down the grid but as they have proven in recent races, with the right tyre and fuel strategy, points should be within reach.
Ross Brawn, Technical Director of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: We are delighted that Rubens has come back so strongly. He has had a bit of a tough year but has been driving extremely well this weekend. Michael hasn't quite got the car to his liking and I don't think Indianapolis is a track where he can maximize his strengths – there are no high speed corners, it's just all low-medium speed precision work. He made a little mistake in sector two which meant he could have been a bit closer. However, we're delighted – front row is fine! They can race freely and the strategies will be open between the two drivers. They will each know what the other is doing and apart from making sure they don't knock each other off, it looks like we're going to have a good race. We had the bonus of a first lap performance from the Bridgestone tyres here today and I think they will also be strong in the race so I'm very pleased with the tyres this weekend.
Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello set the qualifying pace - the Brazilian driver's first pole position of the season.
Jarno Trulli (Renault/Michelin) aborted his final qualifying run. The Italian required a push-start to get going and persistent technical problems forced him to pit at the end of his flying lap. He will start tomorrow's race from the back of the grid.
The second day of the United States Grand Prix has passed largely without major incident, although Jaguar driver Mark Webber slightly damaged his car during the fourth and final free practice session when he slid off the track at Turn 6.
Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin motorsport director: "Things have continued to go well for us today. Our tyres have delivered excellent performance and we have seen absolutely no sign of premature wear or blistering, despite the consistently high track temperatures. Despite different strategies, there is not a great deal to choose between the leading runners and our six partners have all shown a competitive turn of speed.
"After analysing yesterday's free practice data, Michelin's teams have all opted to run the same dry-weather compound in the race. I believe it will be a very open contest and, on the evidence of what I have seen so far, I feel reasonable optimistic about our prospects."
