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The second day of
competitive running for the Minardi F1 Team’s new PS05
chassis ultimately turned out to be a positive one, drivers
Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher putting in strong
performances in the afternoon’s first qualifying session for
Sunday’s San Marino Grand Prix.
The day, however, had not been without its ups and downs for
the Faenza squad. It had started well enough, both drivers
reporting progress on chassis set-up during the first of the
two morning practice sessions.
Unfortunately, the reality of running two brand-new cars
came crowding in during the second, Albers’ chassis
sidelined for the 45-minute session with a gearbox problem,
and Friesacher’s when a change to suspension settings took
significantly longer to complete than anticipated.
The “learning curve” with the PS05 is necessarily steep at
this point in its working life, but viewed in a positive
light, every problem that is resolved at this stage also
increases the team’s knowledge and understanding of its new
car.
CHRISTIJAN
ALBERS
“I’m a little bit
annoyed with myself, as I made quite a few mistakes on the
qualifying lap this afternoon, but I’m happy that we’ve been
going quicker every time out so far this weekend.
"There is no doubt we have made progress with the car, which
certainly felt better today with the changes we made, and I
think we should be able to go quicker again tomorrow. I’m
looking forward to the race, which hopefully, we’ll be able
to finish, and to next week’s test, when we will aim to find
more time in the car.
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The “learning curve” with the
Minardi PS05 is necessarily steep at this point in
its life, but viewed in a positive light, every
problem that is resolved at this stage also
increases the team’s knowledge and
understanding of its new car |
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Minardi driver's
Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher
put in strong performances in the team new PS05 chassis
during the first qualifying session for Sunday’s
Grand Prix |
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"Finally, I just want to thank the guys again. They’ve been
working some really long shifts, and it’s impossible to say
too much about the huge effort they’ve been putting in.”
PATRICK FRIESACHER
“We found a little
more grip today, and the car felt good. I think it has a lot
of potential even though, so far, we have done such a small
amount of running. There is more work to do on the set-up,
but we are definitely heading in the right direction. As for
the qualifying lap this afternoon, everything was going well
until I slid slightly wide at the last chicane. If not for
that, I think we would have had a reasonable time. Tomorrow
is another day, though, and our aim will be to have a good
second qualifying session and to finish the race.”
PAUL STODDART, Team Principal
“Despite finishing today’s first
qualifying session in P19 and P20, all things considered,
the Minardi Team has a lot to be proud of this weekend. The
morning sessions were dogged by mechanical gremlins, which
are to be expected when one considers this is the first
serious running for the new car, but it is clear the Minardi
PS05 chassis and Cosworth TJ2005 engine package shows
significant potential, as evidenced by Christijan’
second-fastest speed through the circuit speed trap this
afternoon.”
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