Formula One: BAR Honda cheered on by record qualifying crowd
7 October 2000
FIA Formula 1 World Championship - Round 16 Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka Qualifying BAR HONDA CHEERED ON BY RECORD QUALIFYING CROWD Saturday 7 October 2000 One of the biggest qualifying day crowds at Suzuka in recent years turned out to cheer Honda back into Formula One this afternoon. The Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda cars were fitted with the same specification of engine that had seen BAR Honda qualify on row two in Monza last month and hopes were high of another strong showing in front of the home fans. Ironically, the nature of the Honda-owned circuit prevented a repeat of the Italian result and the drivers were not able to make the best use of the increased power of the engines, Jacques Villeneuve taking ninth place on the grid with Ricardo Zonta 18th. Villeneuve, who also enjoys a huge support base among the Japanese fans, was one of the first drivers on track after 20 minutes. The Canadian bettered the time on his next two runs, but a final attempt at improvement was aborted. His team mate, meanwhile, spent the first half hour in the garage after the team had decided to replace his qualifying engine as a precautionary measure. The new engine was of the same specification, but the Brazilian was disappointed with one of his lowest starting positions of the season. Jacques Villeneuve Position: 9th 1min 37.267sec "It's disappointing to be ninth, especially after qualifying went pretty well, but we have known all season that we don't have the best of cars. Suzuka is the one circuit of the year where the car counts more than any other; there is nothing but corners here. We have tried everything this weekend to find a good set-up, but we are just lacking a bit of downforce. We need to score points tomorrow to improve our position in the championship and if we manage to make it into the top six I'll be very happy." Ricardo Zonta Position: 18th 1min 38.269sec "We did everything right, but for some reason the time just did not come. We don't know why. We missed the first half of the session, but the new engine was the same spec as the previous one and although I could only use nine of my 12 laps, there was still plenty of time left to do the job." Takefumi Hosaka - Managing Director, Honda R&D "The team made a big improvement over the performance from last year and the engine performance was very good, but we were not able to synchronise the chassis and the tyre settings to give maximum confidence to the drivers. Tomorrow we will use this specification engine in the race for the first time. I hope we will be able to push hard to improve our position in the race and put on a good show for the thousands of Honda fans who have come to support us this weekend." Heinz-Harald Frentzen will start tomorrow's race in eighth place, with Jordan Mugen-Honda team mate Jarno Trulli in 15th after today's session.