FORMULA ONE: Honda F1 qualifying report from Nurburgring
20 May 2000
FIA Formula 1 World Championship - Round 6 European Grand Prix, Nurburgring - Qualifying BAR HONDA QUALIFYING HOPES HIT BY NURBURGRING WEATHER Saturday 20 May 2000 After showing excellent pace all weekend at the Nurburgring, Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda fell victim to the changeable weather conditions at the German circuit in this afternoon's qualifying session. Hopes had been high of a top six start in tomorrow's European Grand Prix, but the BAR Honda team had to settle for ninth and 19th positions and will now be hoping for a strong race performance to enable another points-scoring finish. The session had started with a dry track, but the dark clouds overhead had encouraged all drivers to venture onto the circuit to post an early time. After thirty minutes the anticipated rain duly arrived, after which any improvement always looked unlikely. Jacques Villeneuve had looked well placed to claim a place on the third row of the grid, but he lost valuable tenths on his second flying lap and the change in the weather prevented any improvement later in the session. BAR Honda team mate Ricardo Zonta had also enjoyed better fortune in the previous sessions, the Brazilian posting top ten times during the weekend. Ricardo struggled for a good set-up on his car in the qualifying hour, however, and when the rain arrived he had to be content with 19th place. Jacques Villeneuve Position: 9th 1min 18.742sec "I am not at all happy with ninth place because the car was so much quicker than that, as we have shown all weekend. I am just two tenths off fifth place and we really should have been up there. Unlike most of the field, I have chosen the harder tyre compound. It should last a lot longer in the race and the difference in qualifying time was not that great, so hopefully it will give us an advantage tomorrow." Ricardo Zonta Position: 19th 1min 19.766sec "There's no doubt looking at our performance yesterday and this morning that the weather spoiled our qualifying performance. When we went out for our last run we were caught behind another car that was holding everyone up. He then went off the track, spoiled my fastest lap and I missed the chequered flag by less than a second." Takefumi Hosaka - Managing Director, Honda R&D "We had the car set up well yesterday and we were hoping for a good result in qualifying, but because of the weather we had to wait for the track conditions to improve. At the end of the session, all the drivers started at once and it was very difficult for anyone to gain any time. However we have the car and engine set up well for the race, so we look forward to a better result tomorrow." Jarno Trulli finished the day in an excellent sixth place, equalling his best start position of the year with the Jordan Mugen Honda team. Heinz-Harald Frentzen meanwhile was just two tenths behind, claiming tenth place on tomorrow's grid.