01/04/2006
NEWS STORY
Sam Michael, Technical Director, WilliamsF1: "We really expected to have both cars in the top ten today. Nico got caught by the rain, but it's the same conditions for everybody - we simply didn't get the job done with his car. Mark was good for another position on his last run, but he encountered traffic. We are confident of the car's long run pace for tomorrow and are aiming for points with both cars. The new tyre Bridgestone have brought here is working really well."
Mark Webber: "It was a pretty interesting session today, the heart rate is always there with these sessions! The car was really good on low fuel, but we perhaps didn't get as much out of it as we should have carrying more weight. Ultimately while our last runs were good, I would have liked to be a position or two higher on the grid. That said, I feel good about tomorrow and I think seventh isn't such a bad place to start the race from - all the strategies are 'in' the cars now and we'll see where we are tomorrow."
Nico Rosberg: "Qualifying was really difficult today for a combination of reasons. I kept coming across traffic in Q2 but if I slowed down to make some space, my tyre temperatures dropped because of the cold weather. The main problem was caused by the red flag coming out, which made the second session very busy when it re-started and when I found some space on the track, it rained! It just didn't go my way this time, but I'll do my best tomorrow."
Sean O'Mahony, Principal Engineer - F1 Race Engineering, Cosworth Ltd: "It was an uneventful day on the engine front. The wet conditions this morning didn't show up any engine driveability issues as is sometimes the case. It was good to see the drivers using maximum revs again in qualifying and with the relatively low ambient temperature of 190C, the delivered engine power will have been the highest so far this season."
To check out our Melbourne qualifying gallery, click here