BMW Sauber F1 Team - Monaco GP - Qualifying
Monaco Grand Prix – Qualifying, Saturday
Weather: sunny and dry, 24-25°C air, 43-45°C track
Monaco. Incidents are always expected in the narrow streeets
of Monaco but today for qualifying for the seventh round of
the World Championship these were few and far between. However,
the BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers did not make it into the top
ten as Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld qualified on the
eighth row of the grid.
Jacques Villeneuve:
BMW Sauber F1.06-03/BMW P86
Qualifying: 15th, 1:15.052 min (3rd practice 18th, 1:16.285
min)
It is very disappointing. We were competitive on old tyres
and then when we put new tyres on to qualify we just couldn’t
use them.
Nick Heidfeld:
BMW Sauber F1.06-02/BMW P86
Qualifying: 16th, 1:15.137 min (3rd practice 13th, 1:15.591
min)
I don’t know what happened. I went onto the throttle
and got no response. I don’t know whether we would have
made it into the top ten, but on that last lap the car felt
quite good and I had reasonable grip.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
Qualifying didn’t come up to our expectations. The second
sector was where both drivers lost most time, so they didn’t
get into the top ten where we hoped to be. The reason for
Nick stopping on the track is being investigated at the moment,
but the situation didn’t have any impact on the result
because top ten positions would have been difficult today.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director Chassis):
This qualifying result is not what we expected. Although it
is always difficult here with the traffic, we hoped to get
at least one car in the top ten. In free practice both drivers
were happy with the balance, but with new tyres in qualifying
Jacques complained about understeer. Exactly why Nick stopped
we will only know when the car is back and we have analysed
the data. In a race in Monaco anything is possible, so all
is not lost. We will take advantage of any chances we get
in the race.
The BMW Sauber F1 Team wishes to extend its condolences to
the family of Edouard Michelin and everyone in the company
over their tragic loss.
|
