11/09/2004

Grand Prix of Italy - Qualifying Round-Up

Ricardo Zonta (Car 16 Chassis TF104/10B)
Pre-Qualifying:14th
Lap Time:1m21.829s (+2.304s)
Qualifying:11th
Lap Time:1m21.520s (+1.431s)
Grid Position:11th
"I am very pleased with my qualifying lap this afternoon. We have worked very hard in preparation for this race both at the test session last week and in the free practice sessions. The Michelin tyre evaluation work we carried out yesterday was beneficial for qualifying and I think the tyres will be consistent in the race. I would have liked to get into the top ten but I am satisfied with eleventh - it is a good position from which to start the race and I hope from there we can get a positive result."

Olivier Panis (Car 17 Chassis TF104/09B)
Pre-Qualifying:16th
Lap Time:1m22.169s (+2.644s)
Qualifying:13th
Lap Time:1m21.841s (+1.752s)
Grid Position:13th
"I cannot say that I have enjoyed a trouble-free weekend up to now. After the problems we faced in yesterday's practice sessions we were forced to change the gearbox on my car just before pre-qualifying today. The team has been working hard to fix the car quickly but I am still not totally happy with the car. Considering all the problems that we have encountered I think we should be content with 11th and 13th places on the grid even if I personally expected us to be more competitive at this high-speed track. Now we simply have to be focused on tomorrow's race and hope for our fortunes to change."

Luca Marmorini - Technical Director Engine
"Overall I think that we have achieved encouraging qualifying positions today and both Ricardo and Olivier performed well. Basically the results are very similar to what we expected. We opted to run both sessions with more fuel in the car to make sure that there were no surprises in the important second session. The Monza circuit is particularly stressful on the engine but so far this weekend we have had no difficulties. We studied the problem that we unfortunately experienced in Spa and we subsequently found the cause to be a broken bearing. We have taken measures to ensure that we never have this problem again. From 11th and 13th places on the grid I really hope we can score some points tomorrow afternoon."