Italian Grand Prix
TRULLI’S HOME RUN Italian Jordan Honda driver enjoys strong qualifying performance at Monza Jarno Trulli lead the Honda charge at Monza as he qualified his Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda in fifth position for the start of tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix, his home race. The three other Honda-powered drivers were unable to emulate Trulli’s performance for different reasons, with Jacques Villeneuve in his Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda qualifying 15th, Jean Alesi taking his Jordan Honda to 16th and Olivier Panis’ B.A.R Honda in 17th positions. Juan Pablo Montoya took pole position to beat the Ferraris off the front row at their home Grand Prix as Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher qualified second and third fastest. Montoya’s Williams BMW team-mate Ralf Schumacher starts from fourth with the two McLarens of David Couthard and Mika Hakkinen lining up alongside and behind Trulli respectively in sixth and seventh spots. Jarno Trulli Position: 5th “I am really pleased with this result for myself and the team. Everybody did a great job and I was able to push the car to the limit. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow as the car is well balanced and it seems that the tyres Bridgestone has brought for this race are quite competitive. I would like to thank everybody for their work in achieving this result today.” Kazutoshi Nishizawa – Technical Director, Honda Racing Development “Mixed feelings of course. I think Jarno did a wonderful job. He got the best out of the package but unfortunately the other three cars couldn’t achieve that much. However, we still have the chance to make the best from this. Reliability will be particularly important at this race and this will be at the front of our minds in our approach to tomorrow.” Eddie Jordan, Chief Executive Officer, Jordan Honda “Jarno did a brilliant job today to qualify in front of the two McLarens and it was incredibly disappointing for Jean, particularly at a circuit where he is usually very strong. He has lead races here in the past and we have to find out what the problem is as his position is not an accurate reflection of Jean’s or the car’s capabilities.” Craig Pollock, Technical Director, B.A.R Honda “Both the team and the drivers did a good job today. We’re slow here at the moment and we’re working hard to find solutions for the race. Tomorrow’s another day and despite a disappointing grid position, we’re confident that we can improve in the race and finish in a better position than we qualified.” Today’s results 1 MONTOYA Williams BMW 1'22"216 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1'22"528 3 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1'22"624 4 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1'22"841 5 TRULLI Jordan Honda 1'23"126 6 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1'23"148 7 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes 1'23"394 8 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1'23"417 9 RAIKKONEN Sauber Petronas 1'23"595 10 DE LA ROSA Jaguar 1'23"693 11 BUTTON Benetton Renault 1'23"892 12 FRENTZEN Prost Acer 1'23"943 13 IRVINE Jaguar 1'24"031 14 FISICHELLA Benetton Renault 1'24"090 15 VILLENEUVE B.A.R Honda 1'24"164 16 ALESI Jordan Honda 1'24"198 17 PANIS B.A.R Honda 1'24"677 18 BERNOLDI Arrows Asiatech 1'25"444 19 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Asiatech 1'25"511 20 ENGE Prost Acer 1'26"039 21 ALONSO Minardi European 1'26"218 22 YOONG Minardi European 1'27"463 -------------------------------------------------------------- Honda Formula 1 Press Office, 19 Heathmans Road, London, SW6 4TJ, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7384 2133 Fax: +44 (0)20 7384 1238