Ferrari Focus on Race Pace Instead of Qualifying
By Ferrari Press Release (7/5/2004)
May 7 2004
Sixth and seventh places for Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher respectively in the second hour of free practice might not look like a strong performance from Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, but taking the result in isolation ignores the true story of the day.
It has been something of a trend this year that Michael and Rubens have been quick in the few laps they do on Friday morning, then slower in the afternoon. Having established that the F2004 is performing as it should and making a few baseline changes to the set-up, the rest of the day is usually spent with a high fuel load, working towards Sunday’s race and evaluating tyre types, not just over a single lap, but over a longer stint to judge their consistency. So, while Schumacher was seventh this afternoon, it should be pointed out that his time from the morning session is still the outright fastest time of the day.
Topping the time sheet in the afternoon was Jenson Button in the BAR-Honda followed by his temporary 'Friday only' team-mate Anthony Davidson. On Thursday, both Michael and Rubens singled out BAR as their main concern in Spain and they seem to be right. Ricardo Zonta, another Friday man, clouds the picture a bit with third best time this afternoon for Toyota, while the BMW-Williams of Ralf Schumacher and the Renault of Fernando Alonso are fourth and fifth respectively, ahead of the Ferrari duo.
Michael Schumacher (Driver):
"Today could be described as a standard Friday in Barcelona. We worked on fine tuning the set-up with reasonable success. As usual, we worked on assessing the two types of Bridgestone tyre and we think they have come up with a good compound choice for us, so I am looking forward to being competitive over the rest of the weekend."
Rubens Barrichello (Driver):
"At Barcelona you can test for two months but when it comes to the Grand Prix the track is different and you can never set the same lap times as you did during testing", reflected Rubens Barrichello in response to journalists who questioned his performance in today's free practice sessions.
"As ever, the Friday sessions are hard to judge because everything depends on the amount of fuel our competitors have on board. In any case, the set up of our cars is good and we are close to the cars that are ahead of us. Today there was a bit of wind and this changed things quite a lot, though this was true for everybody. We will have to wait and see what happens."
"Another characteristic of this track is that you can be really fast on new tyres, but as early as the second lap you can't match those times. Today we used two different tyres set ups so that we could compare their performance and so the times aren't so important. I think that we have to pay close attention to BAR as they always set good qualifying times. I have to say that I didn't expect Button to come up with the performance he did at Imola. Here, we can expect them to do well because they have always done well on this track in testing. Starting from the front is particularly important on this circuit as it is difficult to overtake."
Ross Brawn (Technical Director):
"Obviously, we spent today preparing for the race, especially in terms of assessing the two types of Bridgestone at our disposal. First impressions are that one type of tyre is quicker on the first lap, while the second type offers more consistent performance over a longer run. Now we have to study the data very carefully to make the right choice. We know how important it is to qualify well here where overtaking is very difficult. Starting from the front means you run less risk of being stuck behind a slower car. Both drivers reckoned they were satisfied with the performance of their F2004."
Jean Todt (General Director):
"As usual on the first day of the weekend, we have worked on set-up and tyre choice. Even though the Catalunya circuit is one of the most popular tracks for testing, there is always work to do to get the most out of the car. We know we will be competitive, but just how much when compared to our rivals depends on many factors and we won’t have the final answer until the end of Sunday’s race. We know we can expect a closely contested grand prix and along with our partners, especially Bridgestone and Shell, we will try and exploit the full potential of our package."