20/07/2002

French Grand Prix - Qualifying Round-Up

Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Mika Salo and Allan McNish face a difficult task in the French Grand Prix round 11 of the Formula 1 World Championship after qualifying 16th and 17th. Salo lapped the Magny Cours circuit in 1m13.837s and McNish in 1m13.949s.

Salo explained: "We have some traction problems with the car and we are losing out in the last sector of the lap. We do not have enough low speed grip and it's frustrating for us but we are trying to find a solution as fast as possible."

McNish added: "That was a disappointing session. I honestly thought we would be a little bit more competitive in qualifying trim but overall that was about the limit of where the car has been all weekend. On a more positive note we worked mainly on race set-up in the free practice sessions so I think we will have a better-handling car for the race tomorrow."

Although there was disappointment at the grid positions Panasonic Toyota Racing team manager Ange Pasquali said that progress had been made with the car set-up.

"Clearly it was not our best qualifying result of this year " he admitted "but in terms of the work done on the car since yesterday we have made a big progression. It was an interesting session for us but there is still some work to do. We have been able to save one set of new tyres for tomorrow which I hope will pay off somehow."

At the front of the field Juan Pablo Montoya kept up his fine recent run of pole positions when he won a close-fought battle with the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers to claim his fifth in succession. World Champion Michael Schumacher had two of his times cancelled for accidentally missing out part of the circuit when trying very hard but managed to claim second place from team mate Rubens Barrichello with his last attempt. Kimi Raikkonen qualified fourth for West McLaren Mercedes ahead of Ralf Schumacher in the second BMW Williams F1 Team entry and David Coulthard with the second McLaren-Mercedes.