Formula One: Stewart-Ford Racing Notes and Quotes, Austrian Grand Prix
25 July 1999
A1-Ring, Saturday 24th July, 1999 STEWART-FORD NOTES & QUOTES Austrian Grand Prix: Qualifying Weather: Overcast with sunny spells (Ambient temperature 18 deg C, track temperature 21 deg C) Rubens Barrichello will start tomorrow's Austrian Grand Prix from fifth position on the grid. Next to him will be his team mate Johnny Herbert who qualified sixth - the first time both Stewart-Ford cars have been in the top six. RUBENS BARRICHELLO Car No.16 (SF3-04) Time: 1.12:342 Position: fifth You seemed to be struggling a little this morning, how did you turn things round for qualifying? 'I had a problem with turn-in oversteer this morning and I felt like a passenger at times. But we improved the car's handling and mechanical grip as the session went on and the car felt very good by the end. I think fourth was probably the best I could have done. I left it a little late for my last run and caught some traffic. I owe a lot to my engineers and mechanics who gave me a nice car this afternoon.' What are your prospects for the race? 'There are chances to overtake under braking here so I expect to be challenging for the podium if I can get a good start and our race strategy works out. We have improved the car in race trim at the last couple of tests and the Silverstone race proved that we can run competitively at the front, so I'm confident for tomorrow.' JOHNNY HERBERT Car No.17 (SF3-05) Time: 1.12:488 Position: sixth Sixth place, your best qualifying position of the season - how does it feel? 'It has taken me and the team a bit longer than expected but now we are in the top six its big relief. Considering I was fourth quickest this morning I'm a little frustrated not to be one or two places higher up.' You have been consistently quick all weekend - what do you attribute this to? 'First of all the testing we did at Monza last week has been very beneficial. My main problem this year has been to put in a quick lap on low fuel. The car felt great and I was able to be a bit more aggressive than usual. This is also my first trouble-free start to a weekend so I felt more relaxed for qualifying. My final run was hampered first by the yellow flags and then I was held up by traffic, so I could have gone quicker.' PAUL STEWART, SGP Chief Operating Officer 'To fill the third row of the grid for the first time this year is a tremendous achievement. For Johnny in particular this is a satisfying result. We now have a good opportunity to pick up points with both cars in the race and improve our championship standing. All the modifications we have made to the cars, including the introduction of the Series 3 engine, have worked well so far.' MARTIN WHITAKER, Director, Ford Racing, Europe 'Having both cars in the top six is an excellent performance by the whole team. We experienced no major problems and it marks a solid race weekend debut for the Series 3 engine. As a precaution we changed the engine in Rubens' car after Free Practice. Both drivers will be using Series 3 engines in tomorrow's race.'
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