27/04/2002

Spanish Grand Prix - Qualifying Round-Up

Panasonic Toyota Racing headed to Barcelona for round five of the world championship safe in the knowledge that the Spanish Grand Prix would not be one of the team's best Grand Prix weekends.

Mika Salo will start the race 18th on the grid with a best lap of 1m18.897s while Allan McNish lines up 20th on 1m19.025s.

After the logistical challenges of the flyaway races then the return to Europe the Circuit de Catalunya is perhaps even harder on the team. It is technically demanding and places an emphasis on aerodynamics an area of development where the team will improve as it gathers more wind tunnel data.

"We knew this race would be difficult for us and that we would struggle because this circuit needs so much downforce and so it has proved " Salo said "but it is still a little bit disappointing when you realise you have to start from 18th. But normally we are reliable and I will be doing my best to make progress in the race.

"However we are where we belong in the field. We need to make some aerodynamic improvements to the car soon or we will find it quite difficult to continually improve throughout the season " he added

McNish had a tough time in qualifying when he had a high-speed spin in the fourth gear penultimate corner where the drivers are pulling lateral forces of more than 3g.

"I tried to take the corner flat-out and I hit the inside kerb ever so slightly which bounced the car out " he explained. "Then I dropped a rear wheel off the outside kerb and that put me into the spin. I was a bit over-ambitious I guess...

"At first I thought I was going to hit the wall but I managed to get the car angled and I knew that if I was going properly backwards I might get away with it and thankfully I did. There were cars coming from everywhere and they look as if they are doing about 400mph when you are sat there parked!

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro continued its domination at the head of the field when world champion Michael Schumacher stole pole position from team mate Rubens Barrichello on his third and final qualifying run.

BMW Williams F1 made progress after an opening day when neither car featured in the top 10. Ralf Schumacher was again the closest challenger to Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro and team mate Juan Pablo Montoya jumped up to fourth on his final lap. Emerging young Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen was just 0.09s slower with the first of the West McLaren Mercedes entries while Jenson Button completed the top six for Mild Seven Renault F1 Team.