17/08/2002

Hungarian Grand Prix - Qualifying Round-Up

Panasonic Toyota Racing faces the prospect of a challenging Hungarian Grand Prix tomorrow after Mika Salo and Allan McNish qualified for the race in 17th and 18th places respectively.

After a promising morning session which saw Salo 12th and McNish 14th on the timesheets the changeable track conditions required last-minute fine-tuning on car balance during the qualifying hour.

Salo explained: "We changed the set-up during qualifying because we weren't sure what we should run. We got the absolute maximum out of the car today but we have to accept that the car just does not yet have enough downforce for a circuit like this one. There's not enough grip and the car feels like it's bouncing and moving around too much. This is something we have to look into much closer."

McNish added: "On my first run the car balance was pretty good but I was held up by traffic towards the end of the lap which cost me three tenths of a second. After that we never found the same balance with increasing understeer on each run that we will have to look into. I'm also quite frustrated and it's going to be a hard day tomorrow."

With overtaking at Hungaroring a near impossibility the Panasonic Toyota Racing squad faces an uphill task to make progress in tomorrow's demanding 77-lap race but Technical Co-Ordinator Keizo Takahashi remained positive:

"The qualifying result was disappointing yes but we have been able to find a good set-up for the race tomorrow and we will put in our best effort to make up positions and to finish the race " he said.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro claimed the front row of the grid for the fourth time this season and Rubens Barrichello took his third pole position just 0.05s quicker than five-time world champion Michael Schumacher. The BMW Williams F1 Team dominates row two with Ralf Schumacher third and Juan Pablo Montoya fourth. Giancarlo Fisichella achieved DHL Jordan Honda's best starting position of the season with fifth place while Jarno Trulli's Mild Seven Renault entry completed the top six.