March 15 - 17, 2002

Race Notes

Disappointment in Malaysia

Jacques Villeneuve brought his BAR 004 home in eighth on a disappointing day for the team in Malaysia.

Jacques, who started 13th, struggled with grip and steering problems for most of the race. He said the team still has much to do to make the 004 more competitive.

He said: "We finished the race, but that's the only positive thing we can take away from today. I had no grip at all and then I started having problems with the steering.

"Clearly, there are things that need to be addressed if we are going to improve. We're not expecting anything new until Imola now so we have to look forward to what those developments bring."

Olivier was even more unlucky, retiring nine laps in with a clutch problem.

He said: "I made a fantastic start and was behind Jacques after the first corner. I was on the same strategy as him and I think if I had finished the race we could have brought both cars home in the top 10.

"Unfortunately, I had the same clutch bearing problem as this morning and I had to stop. We have to keep our focus now and continue to work hard for Brazil. That is certainly my intention when we test next week in Barcelona."

Team boss David Richards said he would be working hard to solve the team's difficulties.

He said: "Both drivers and all the team put in an enormous effort over the weekend, but our problems were there for everyone to see.

"Despite the fact that Jacques finished eighth, we very clearly have an enormous mountain to climb and we won't achieve our goals without some radical changes."

Technical director Malcolm Oastler added: "We had a few problems with Jacques' car and we had to compromise our performance a little to guard against the problem we experienced with Olivier's car. Then we encountered a problem with the steering as well.

"Jacques drove like a hero to keep the car going, and to keep pushing for the points, but 8th was the best we could do. Unfortunately for Olivier, we had a recurrence of the clutch bearing problem we suffered with this morning.

"We need to look at the data now and use next week's test to resolve the reliability issues and lift the performance of the car to an acceptable level."

BAR

Race Results

Warm-Up Times

Qualifying Notes

Jacques Villeneuve
"I had a good qualifying lap but I was 13th today because we're not fast enough. We still have some work to do to give us the best chance tomorrow. It's a tough physical race but I've done all the training and I feel prepared. We still have a chance of finishing in the points."

Olivier Panis
"Today is definitely a day to forget. The morning session was complicated by a repetition of the electronic problems we encountered yesterday, then 10 minutes before the qualifying session we found a gearbox oil leak. At first, we decided to move straight to the T-car, but the team continued to work on my car and thought they had fixed the problem. I took the race car but unfortunately, after 1 lap, I lost gearbox oil pressure and then had to switch to the T-car 12 minutes before the end of the session. The mechanics made a tremendous effort to prepare the car, but in the end, I had to drive a car that was not set up for me. We have a great deal of work to do and a lot of things to change in the future. Regarding the race, I will have to wait and see what happens in warm-up before I can make any predictions."

David Richards, Team Principal
"Jacques did a very good job and extracted the maximum he could from the car, but we have to accept that this is where we are today. On the other hand, Olivier had a very frustrating session which resulted in him setting his time in the T-car, which was set up for Jacques. We must now focus on making the cars as reliable as possible for tomorrow, and in no small measure, we depend on the fitness of both our drivers in what will be a very hot and demanding race."

Malcolm Oastler, Engineering Director
"Qualifying was very difficult today. We discovered a gearbox oil leak on Olivier's car just prior to the session, and whilst addressing that, we made some precautionary checks with Jacques' car which delayed his first run. Jacques ran well but Olivier's problem resurfaced and we had to switch him to the T-car. The car was set up for Jacques so it was a race against time to change the settings. Olivier did the best job he could with a compromised set-up."

Saturday Practice Times

Friday Practice Notes

Jacques Villeneuve
"We weren't very competitive today. I had a hydraulic problem in the second session and lost 45 minutes, but if we hadn't had that problem, I'm sure we could have improved the car quite a lot. In the morning, you figure out the track and clean it up a bit, then you really work on set-up in the afternoon. We weren't able to do that in the 10 minutes that we had so we didn't learn much today. We just managed to put different tyres on and get out to do a few more laps. We're a little slow but the car isn't bad to drive. We just need to work on the set-up and find a way to be quicker."

Olivier Panis
"This wasn't a very good first day for me. We could have done much better than 18th but we had an electronic problem and we couldn't really focus on the set-up of the car. We're on top of that problem now but we need to make up for the track time we lost to give us a good chance in qualifying. We have to roll up our sleeves now and go for it."

David Richards, Team Principal
"After a disappointing performance in Australia, our objective for this weekend is to get closer to the true potential of the car. Clearly, our position at the end of today's running means we have a great deal of work to do this afternoon and tomorrow morning. We have to overcome the reliability issues we encountered today to ensure we achieve the top 10 qualifying position we know we are capable of."

Malcolm Oastler, Engineering Director
"17th and 18th is obviously not where we'd like to be at the end of practice today. We lost valuable set-up time, mainly because of a hydraulic problem on Jacques' car, which kept him in the garage for most of the second session. Fortunately, we resolved the problem in time to get him out for a couple more runs to explore the tyre options. We also had a few problems with the gearbox downshift on Olivier's car, which upset the overall balance a bit. We need to work on the set-up now to improve the speed of the cars."

BAR Race Preview

The 2002 season got off to a less than ideal start at the Australian Grand Prix when half the grid was decimated by a first corner incident. Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda were bitterly disappointed to see Olivier Panis eliminated as he tried to avoid other cars caught up in the chaos. Jacques Villeneuve was one of the lucky survivors but a possible points-scoring finish eluded him when the rear wing of the BAR004 broke off on his 27th lap.

The team left Melbourne with two DNFs to ponder and an acknowledgement by Team Principal, David Richards, that a great deal of work still needs to be done. Investigations at the Brackley Operations Centre concluded that the wing failure was due to fatigue and design modifications have been implemented to prevent a repetition of the problem.

In preparation for next weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix, the team completed a two-day test at Silverstone (Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th March), with test driver Anthony Davidson running through a programme of aerodynamic and engine development work in the BAR004/01.

The Sepang circuit hasn't been the most successful for the team over the past three years, although Jacques did finish 5th in 2000 and has always qualified in the top 10. Olivier has only competed in two of the three races held there and has yet to cross the finish line. 2001 brought disappointment in the form of two DNFs; Olivier suffered an oil system problem on his 2nd lap and a sudden downpour led to Jacques' demise when he spun out after 4 laps.

Jacques Villeneuve on the Malaysian Grand Prix:
"I'm looking forward to racing in Malaysia. It's a challenging race and the hot atmospheric conditions make it physically demanding. Like the Melbourne track, it is a long lap, which I enjoy. There are a couple of very long straights with tight corners.

"Our car should be fairly competitive. I'm disappointed that we didn't finish the race in Melbourne as we could easily have been in the points there. We have all the right elements in place to fight for points finishes, we just need to raise our game."

Olivier Panis on the Malaysian Grand Prix:
"The Malaysian Grand Prix is a big challenge as it isn't easy to get a perfect set-up. The straight is so long and you need to have good speed to overtake but you also need good mechanical grip for the low-speed corners. In the wet, grip levels are quite good, but when it rains hard...wow, it really does rain! You almost need a boat, not a car! This is the worst problem, because we need to have the safety car out quickly. Without it, everybody would go off.

"The circuit is a really nice design, with high speed and low speed corners. The designers have done a fabulous job. You are always turning and changing gear, although now we have automatic up and downshift, which makes it easier compared with last year!

"Last year I had a technical problem on the 2nd lap and had to retire. It was frustrating for me because I made the right tyre choice for the rain and the car was really competitive. I hope this year will be better as I was very disappointed that I couldn't fight for some points after going out of the race in Australia. I hope we can demonstrate a bit more of the car's potential in Malaysia."

David Richards, Team Principal:
"Australia really served to underline my view that we have some pretty fundamental issues to address. Before we do anything else we have got to get the basics right, by which I mean maximising the output from what we have already. Until we have got that sorted we cannot move on to developing our technology and performance to the highest level.

"As for Malaysia, it is always a tough race and once again will serve as an intense pressure test of all aspects of the team's performance. I certainly hope that the team can get much closer to extracting the real potential from the car, which should by rights be inside the top ten in both qualifying and the race. Apart from anything we need to get both cars to the end so that we can collect valuable information for ourselves and Honda."

The Circuit

Race Distance - 55 Laps. 189.420 miles (304.865 km)
Circuit Length - 3.444 miles (5.543km)

Situated 30 miles south of Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur, the superb Sepang circuit hosts the Malaysian Grand Prix for the fourth time next Sunday.

Devised by Hermann Tilke, it is a visually dramatic, beautifully equipped facility that sets the standard for F1 circuits in the 21st Century and has been lavished with much praise by teams and drivers alike since joining the World Championship in 1999. The demanding, 15-turn, 5.543km track features a pair of parallel straights plus a combination of low and medium-speed corners that really test the drivers. Indeed, Sepang is regarded as one of the most physically demanding tracks in the world. The surface is wide and smooth with overtaking most likely to occur under braking for the tight corners at the end of each straight.

Sepang also provides wonderful spectator facilities, including a unique "double-sided" 30,000-seat grandstand with an unusual roof in the shape of an hibiscus - the national flower of Malaysia.