Report

Ferrari brought out the new F2003-GA for its first race at a warm and dry Barcelona track, and ended the qualifying session locking out the front row after fending off pressure from the Renaults.

Once again it was the Renault's which took the qualifying fight to Ferrari. Local hero Fernando Alonso set the time to beat mid-session, but with the Ferraris running last, first Rubens Barrichello and then Michael Schumacher bettered the Spaniard's time. With Alonso's team mate Jarno Trulli setting fourth fastest time, the all Ferrari front row was followed by an all Renault second row.

Jenson Button ( BAR-Honda ) edged out a delighted Olivier Panis ( Toyota ) on row three, with Ralf Schumacher in the first of the Williams-BMW's next up, unable to find an ideal balance around the Circuit de Catalunya. McLaren had an unhappy session, David Coulthard, in the spare after and engine problem in his race car, lined up behind Ralf, while World Championship leader Kimi Raikkonen aborted his flying lap after running wide and starts tomorrow's race from the back of the grid.

Jean Todt

"It was a very exciting qualifying session. We have managed to secure an all-red front row which is the best possible way to start the race, even though we will have to wait until tomorrow to get a clear picture of the fuel levels being run by the others. The F2003-GA has confirmed its potential right from its very first appearance at a Grand Prix weekend. Now we can expect a very tough race with, as usual, reliability and strategy playing key roles. The support of our partners has been very important here, especially that of Bridgestone and Shell, who have brought a new fuel here, specially designed for the 052 engine." 

Michael Schumacher

"This weekend is the first time I have driven the new car at this track and so it was not easy to find the right direction in terms of set-up, but today's result shows we seem to have got it right. As usual with a new car, we have had more work to do, checking everything on the car, even though we have used it for the past three months. A race weekend is always different, but the whole team has done a fantastic job. My lap was not perfect as I had a bad line through Turn 9 and Turn 11. As Rubens has been very quick, I thought I might be behind him, but in the end I was quicker." 

"We always felt we had a chance of pole as we know this car is faster than the old one and at this track, the car's performance is very important. How does this car differ from the old one? It's faster! You always aim to make a car faster and more neutral and the team has worked on each detail of the package.' 

Rubens Barrichello

"The car worked very well, as we managed to improve its balance. But it was not a great lap for me. Being first and second on the grid is a very good start for the new car. In qualifying, there is always a compromise between going on the limit and being a little bit cautious as the track here is very dirty if you go a little bit off the perfect line. As for the race, I think we have a good strategy, although with the new qualifying rules you have to try and work out what the other teams are doing and where you will be in terms of track position. Again tomorrow, the track off the line will get more and more dirty during the race, so it should be an interesting afternoon." 

Ross Brawn

"This year, it is proving very difficult to make an accurate assessment of qualifying, given that we don't know how much fuel the others are using. That aside, we are obviously satisfied with this result and are confident for tomorrow afternoon's race .We had a new Bridgestone tyre at our disposal, but we felt that in terms of the race, the one we had used during test sessions at this track back in March offered a better overall performance." 

Michael Schumacher: 1st 1.17.762 3 laps F2003-GA chassis 229 
Rubens Barrichello: 2nd 1.18.020 3 laps F2003-GA chassis 228 

BARCELONA, SPAIN, May 3, 2003 – It turned out to be the same story at the Circuit de Catalunya today for European Minardi Cosworth as it did yesterday. Despite drivers Justin Wilson and Jos Verstappen making useful progress fine-tuning the handling of their cars during the morning practice session, it did not translate into improved grid positions for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. 

In fact, Verstappen and Wilson both set better lap times in the 15-minute warm-up session before final qualifying began than they were able to achieve in the qualifying session itself, possibly the result of a stiffening afternoon breeze blowing down the long straight of this challenging, 4.730-km track. On the positive side, good progress has been made with developing a suitable chassis set-up for the race. 

Combined with the excellent reliability displayed so far this weekend by both European Minardi Cosworth entries, the team feels it has good reason to hope for a strong two-car finish in tomorrow’s Grand Prix. 

JUSTIN WILSON

“I was quite fired up for that one after yesterday. It was a pretty clean lap, although I did catch the edge of the curb at Turn 6 in the middle sector, which cost me a little bit. I think we were close to extracting the most we could from the car, and generally, I wasn’t unhappy with the run. The main goal now is to get the best start possible in the race tomorrow and then get to the finish.”

JOS VERSTAPPEN

“Disappointingly, we ran slower on the qualifying lap than in the warm-up session 15 minutes before, and that was despite pushing harder. We made a small change to the front wing before the qualifying run just to try to improve the chassis balance, but if I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t have done that. We were again very close to the limit today, and in that situation, it’s difficult to find more time in the car – I made a little mistake at Turn 4, which maybe cost me a tenth of a second, but that was about it.  As for the race tomorrow, hopefully, it will rain, as that would suit us. This is a track that is known to be hard on tyres, so there may a lot of pit stops tomorrow.  We will just have to see how things develop and hope for some good luck.” 

PAUL STODDARD

“Finishing P18 and P19 is perhaps the best we could expect today.  Both Justin and Jos drove faultlessly all day, though, and hopefully the reliability we’ve enjoyed throughout the weekend will continue through the race in order to let us record a two-car finish tomorrow.”

Chassis allocation – Spanish GP: Wilson (No 18)  PS03/03, Verstappen (No 19)  PS03/01, Spare car  PS03/02