April 12 - 14, 2002

Race Notes

Brave JV denied his reward

Jacques Villeneuve just missed out on a points finish after a gutsy drive to seventh in the San Marino Grand Prix.

Jacques gave the team their best result of the season so far with an excellent display. The French Canadian is optimistic that the race could yet prove a turning point for the team.

He said: "We've had a good weekend and we fought very hard in the race today.

"The track and the tyres suited the car so it's a shame that on the one weekend where we haven't had any problems we didn't manage to get any points."

Team-mate Olivier Panis was less lucky. The Frenchman retired on lap 44 with a throttle linkage problem.

He said: "Despite a relatively problem-free weekend we didn't achieve a consistent balance on my car, which is something we will have to work on.

"I was hoping to at least finish the race today in order to bring the team some valuable data, but unfortunately the throttle linkage problem cut the engine on my 44th lap."

Team principal David Richards felt the team was unlucky not to be rewarded with a points finish.

He said: "The team have done a very competent job all weekend. It is always disappointing when all this hard work is still not rewarded with any points but I am sure these will come."

Technical director Geoffrey Willis added: "We're very pleased with a seventh place finish today. The pit crew achieved an excellent second stop for Jacques which enabled him to jump two cars.

"However, we are still unable to run enough downforce on the car and we are under no illusions that there is still plenty of work ahead of us."

BAR

Race Results

Warm-Up Times

Qualifying Notes

Jacques Villeneuve
"After the start we made to the weekend we should be very happy with today's result. We've made a number of small changes for this race and the team have done a lot of work over the past two days to get the most from them. The track seems to suit the car and we're starting from the first half of the grid, so if we can get a good first lap we should be in with a chance of getting a point."

Olivier Panis
"It looks like the hard work done during the last two tests is starting to pay off and I'm very pleased for the team. 10th and 12th is definitely a step forward for us. We had a difficult start to the weekend and yesterday showed us that we had a lot of work to do to improve the car for qualifying. I was a little disappointed with my own qualifying session because I don't think we found the best set-up for me. On the positive side, we have been reliable all weekend so we need to stay focused and make the most of every opportunity tomorrow."

David Richards, Team Principal
"I'm very pleased with the way the team has performed today. After a difficult time on Friday, we produced a good solid result in the sessions this morning and in qualifying. I feel that our new structure is beginning to pay dividends in terms of the way we work at the track, and as a result we're doing a much better job of extracting the maximum performance from the car. We need to keep up the momentum and get a good result tomorrow."

Geoffrey Willis, Technical Director
"We appear to have made good progress with our reliability issues and have therefore had two days of consistent running which has allowed us to gradually improve the performance of the car. In the dry running today the car has responded well to set-up changes, and as a result we have followed a planned programme steadily improving the car throughout practice and qualifying. As a result we are much closer to where we should be at this stage. The team have done a good job."

Saturday Practice Times

Friday Practice Notes

Jacques Villeneuve
"The car was very difficult to drive today. The less grip there is the more you can see your problems. We're not getting enough downforce and we're having a very difficult time bringing temperature into the tyres. I think we're going to struggle to make the car competitive this weekend."

Olivier Panis
"It wasn't an easy session that's for sure. I'm disappointed to see that some of the problems we had in Brazil are still in evidence here today. The team have to take a good look at the problems we experienced in practice and really focus on finding a solution. Otherwise, we aren't going to progress."

David Richards, Team Principal
"Our performance in the wet conditions today has shown up some of the inherent weaknesses in the car, which are currently being addressed by Geoffrey and his team. These will not provide us with a quick fix but hopefully we can look forward to a drier weekend than we've experienced today."

Geoffrey Willis, Technical Director
"Today was a very difficult day for us. Both drivers struggled with oversteer and lack of grip, and it's going to take a lot of work to make the car perform any better in these conditions. The wet weather brought out the worst in the car today and amplified its weaknesses."

BAR Race Preview

The Brazilian Grand Prix dealt a further blow to Lucky Strike BAR Honda drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis and provided a further reminder that a tough season lies ahead. Jacques was classified 10th despite retiring on his penultimate lap with an engine problem. Olivier's run of bad luck continued and a gearbox failure rounded off an unwanted hat-trick of DNFs.

Technical Director Geoffrey Willis has completed his initial review of the team's technical capability and is focusing on improving reliability in the short-term. More importantly, he can now begin to put the building blocks in place for 2003 and beyond.

Olivier and test driver Anthony Davidson completed a comprehensive 3-day test in Valencia last week (2-4 April), where the programme included an exploration of some electronic control and exhaust improvements, a pre-Imola brake evaluation, a Bridgestone tyre test and some general aerodynamic improvements for the next race. The team made good progress across a number of areas and are particularly encouraged to have a further evolution of the Honda engine and an improvement in drivability for the race ahead.

Jacques Villeneuve
"Brazil was another disappointing race for us but the team made some progress in the Valencia test. I'm not expecting to see any major improvement in Imola but we seem to be moving in the right direction. The car felt a little better on race day in Brazil so hopefully we can build on that this weekend.

"I like coming to Imola; it's a good track, the people are very passionate and the Italian food is delicious. Like most of the circuits we race at during the season, it is a high downforce track and has an interesting layout. The team have been quite competitive here in the past and it would be nice to fight for some points. I'm looking forward to the race."

Olivier Panis
"I haven't finished the first three races so I'm going to Imola hoping for a better outcome. My aim is to finish the race so reliability is the most important factor. My other target is to maximise any opportunity we can to get a good result. Again, the work done in Valencia last week was based on our reliability issues and I'm cautiously optimistic that we've taken a step forward in a number of areas. We worked very closely with Honda and improved the drivability of the car so we are making progress.

"It's always good to get back to Europe after the first three long-haul races. Imola is a great circuit to kick-off the European season and once again we run anti-clockwise like in Brazil. The track is interesting and the atmosphere is quite thrilling."

David Richards, Team Principal
"We have established our performance expectations and everybody is aware that we have a long hard climb ahead of us. Building for the future is going to be a slow process.

"We made some progress with our reliability issues in the Valencia test and Honda have made a further step forward with the engine for Imola. Our main focus for the weekend has to be extracting the maximum potential from our current package."

The Circuit

Race Distance - 62 Laps. 189.897 miles (305.609 km)
Circuit Length - 3.065 miles (4.933 km)

The arrival of the Grand Prix teams in Imola marks the start of Formula One's European season. Located in Tuscan woodland 20 miles south-east of Bologna, the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari was first used in 1950. Through he years, as a venue for both San Marino and Italian GPs, it has gained a reputation as a fast, wide-open circuit with some truly daunting corners. Following the tragic deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger in 1994 however, the straights were shortened and punctuated by chicanes. As the nature of the circuit changed, so chassis set-up priorities shifted from low downforce to maximise straight-line speed, to higher levels of downforce to keep cornering speeds up.

Despite the modifications, Imola remains an interesting circuit for the drivers. The straights aren't so long that they place an absolute premium on outright power, while the chicanes and bumpy track surface demand good handling characteristics. Along with Interlagos, Imola also holds the distinction of being made one of only two anti-clockwise circuits during the year.