Race Report    

Jacques: "A disappointing race for the team today. We weren't very quick all weekend and we suspected a problem with the race car. For that reason we used the T-car in the race, which I was more comfortable with. We didn't have the aerodynamic developments on the T-car though so we were left with the choice of a car with less downforce or a car with a possible mechanical problem. Obviously we had to choose the one with less downforce so 9th was the best we could do today."

Malcolm Oastler: "It's been one of those days I'm afraid. At this stage in the season we need to qualify well and be fast to score points. We didn't qualify well enough and the teams ahead were reliable so could only move up to 9th from 10th for Jacques. Olivier's car broke down with an electrical problem, which we have yet to fully identify. We did attempt to rectify it but we were unable to put him back in the race. However, it was important from a team perspective to try to diagnose the problem here rather than back at the factory and the additional data we gathered was useful. Everyone has worked very hard for this weekend, so it's been a bit disappointing."

Craid Pollock: "This was a difficult weekend from start to finish and we had expected to do much better. I'm particularly disappointed for Olivier and his crew but we have to work hard to make sure we solve the problem for the next races. Jacques held in there and drove a good race but we weren't fast enough. We have a lot of work to do before the next race to make sure we are competitive."

Complete race results here.

Qualifying Report    

After two disappointing practice sessions today, Jacques was able to qualify his BAR in 10th place - a result that was totally unexpected (Jacques qualified 16th last year).

Carbon-copy conditions for the qualifying session with the track at 42º and air temp at 30º.

Jacques' first outing was good enough for the provisional pole with a time of 1'17"003. Near the halfway mark of the session Jacques made his second appearance and bettered his time to 1'16"564 (+2"147) which temporarily placed him ninth.

After an aborted third run which Jacques judged to be too far off the pace, Jacques' final run in the last minutes of the session moved him up from 13th to 10th with a time of 1'16"212 (+2"153).

Jacques: "After the session this morning and during qualifying we kept improving and made some big progress. Yesterday was a tough day so we changed direction this morning and got closer and closer. In my last run the car was difficult to drive but faster, which allowed me to get a good lap in. We're still not where we wanted to be but we expect to be better off in the race tomorrow. It's going to be hot which makes it very physical but suits our car."

Malcolm Oastler: "This was actually our best qualifying session since Canada so we shouldn't feel too disappointed. However, we were optimistic that we could make a bigger improvement than we have. Jacques' engineers and mechanics did a good job of improving on yesterday's practice session and today we were able to find a good set-up for him. Rather tragically for Olivier, we experienced an electrical problem which gave him only two runs and prevented him from demonstrating his full potential."

Craig Pollock: "It's been a very hard start to the weekend and our qualifying positions are not quite as good as we had hoped for. Obviously the problems with Olivier's car didn't give him the position he merited from the weekend so far but we have the potential to race well from where we are. We need to stay focused now and work hard in preparation for the race to make sure we have a good set-up."

Qualifying results here.

Saturday Free Practice    

Session 2

As track and air temperatures continued to climb, Jacques was back in action looking to improve on his first session time. He quickly put in a lap of 1'17"477, moving him up to 11th place.

Just past the halfway mark of the 45-minute session, Jacques came out for his second run with a new set of tires and promptly put in his best time of the session at 1'17"087. 

In the final minutes of the session Jacques had a slight off, but with no consequences.

After completing 29 laps in total, Jacques' time of 1'17"087 (+1'824) placed him 14th for the session.

Complete practice session results here.

Session 1

Conditions were again hot and sunny with track temp at 29º and ambient temperature at 25º.

Completing a total of 12 laps, Jacques finished a disappointing 14th with a time of 1'17"837 (+2"371).

First session results here.

Friday Free Practice    

Session 2

Jacques took to the track early during Friday's second practice session, with conditions still hot and sunny but much warmer - track temp was up to 38º and air temp at 30º. The track was uncharacteristically clean as Jacques put in 5 laps without improving his time.

However as the session progressed the track appeared to become fairly slippery and driver errors accumulated with numerous spins. 

Jacques returned to the track just past the halfway mark of the session, having been pushed down to 15th place. After completing only 3 laps, Jacques returned to the pits.

With just over 10 minutes left, Jacques made his third appearance on the track. He unfortunately threw away what seemed to be a promising lap by going wide on the final corner.

Jacques was finally able to improve his time in the last minutes of the session. After being relegated to nearly the bottom of the grid, he was able to put in a time of 1'19"238 (+2"587) to finish 16th after completing 33 laps.

Jacques: "We got a little lost with the set-up so we're not where we'd like to be this afternoon. I suffered with some oversteer and we were unable to find a solution yet. We still have some work to do but it's nothing we can't improve on tonight and in tomorrow's session. Olivier was able to improve throughout the session and his position is more representative of what the car can do here."

Jock Clear: "We still have room for improvement after today. We didn't manage to find the right set-up for Jacques yet but Olivier seemed to be happy with a slightly different direction. We work very closely as a team so we'll be looking very carefully at Olivier's car and working to improve things for Jacques for tomorrow."

Final practice results here.

Session 1

The teams were back in action this morning for Friday's first practice session. Conditions were hot and sunny with track temp at 33º and air temp at 27º.

Completing a total of 19 laps, with a best time of 1'19"707 (+2"712), Jacques finished today's first session in 9th place.

The BAR team was running with a new aero package, including new wings on the car, which they had recently tested in Valencia.

Results from the first session here.

BAR Race Preview    

Situated close to the beautiful city of Budapest, the Hungaroring is another relatively tight, twisty circuit possessing few obvious overtaking opportunities. Cars hit maximum speeds of around 275 km/h at the end of the pit straight before braking for a sweeping, right-hand corner. Predictably, such a layout makes the Hungaroring a high downforce circuit - in fact the levels of downforce required exceed those for Monaco. To be competitive, a car must have good front-end grip and be able to change direction quickly, consistently and without understeer. Two major concerns for race engineers are the track's bumpy nature and the likelihood that the surface will be quite dirty when the cars first start running. Past experience has shown that it usually takes some time before it cleans up and becomes "rubbered in".

Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda left Hockenheim feeling more positive after the German Grand Prix. Jacques' podium finish was just the morale boost needed to send the team smiling into their well-earned summer break. The whole race team were given a full week off by the team management to help them recharge their batteries for the last five races of the season.

Looking ahead to the Hungarian Grand Prix, the team are confident that a new package for this race will help them to improve at the Hungaroring.

In recent testing at Valencia, the team did a lot of work in anticipation of Hungary and, using that information, a number of modifications have been made.

Hungary usually means very hot weather - which suits the BAR003 just fine. However, the team will be looking to improve on its recent qualifying performance given the lack of overtaking opportunities at this twisty circuit.

Malcolm Oastler, Technical Director: "The three week break has been great for the team - everyone is relaxed and ready to attack the next race. On the engineering and design side it's been pretty much business as usual. The changes to the car are quite significant so we have worked through the break to ensure that we will be as competitive as possible in Hungary. We look forward to seeing how the development work can translate into a positive race result - hopefully, the kind we enjoyed in Germany! It can be very hot here but reliability isn't too much of a concern. Our focus has to be moving further up the grid if we are to challenge for a points finish."

BAR Press Release

Jacques at the Hungaroring    

Jacques Villeneuve's exceptional race pace in this afternoon's Hungarian Grand Prix provided some encouragement for the Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda team after what had been a difficult weekend. Villeneuve recovered from a first lap incident with Pedro de la Rosa that left him in last place, nearly one lap down, to charge through the field to finish 12th, while team mate Ricardo Zonta had a steady race, taking the chequered flag in 14th position.

The Hungaroring was always likely to be one of the circuits least suited to the characteristics of the BAR Honda 002, but the team's cause was not helped by Villeneuve's coming together with the Arrows of Pedro De La Rosa at the third corner. Both cars pitted and after fitting a new nose cone, Villeneuve found himself relegated to the back of the field. Thereafter, however, the Canadian proceeded to lap at a pace comparable with the leading contenders. The team had found a set-up better suited to the circuit than that employed in qualifying and Jacques was able to make up around three seconds a lap over his rivals, quickly recovering the earlier lost ground. He set about demonstrating that overtaking is possible around this tight circuit and but for the additional enforced pit stop could have featured as a force in the race itself.

Lending further credibility to his impressive performance, Villeneuve was the fastest of all the drivers through the official speed trap. He was also among the quickest in terms of straight-line speed all around the circuit, despite running with maximum downforce settings to maximise the car's grip.

"For once, I did not get a good start and found myself on the outside of De La Rosa at the chicane, we both braked very late, but I hit the back of his car," Villeneuve explained. "After the first pit stop, the car was really quick and I was able to get into a good rhythm with a clear track ahead of me. I got past a number of cars on the track, but you cannot make up for losing all that time at the start of the race. It's a shame, because the car was very good in race trim."

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Jacques drove the first part of the race with a damaged front wing but was still able to lap quickly until his first pit stop on lap 24. He maintained a claim on 12th position, moving up to 10th as other drivers pitted late, before his clutch failed on lap 61, just after his second pit stop.

"I was sandwiched between Alexander Wurz and Rubens Barrichello at the start, banged a few wheels, and got a broken front wing, which meant lots of understeer and hard going in the traffic. In the end I stopped because I lost drive. It's very frustrating to have another retirement after I went so far in the race, but there'll be another one and soon I'm going to finish."

"I am very satisfied to be on the podium today. I knew that we could finish third or fourth if someone had problems ahead. It was the case for Mika Hakkinen. Today, the Goodyear tires were more durable, that helped everyone using that brand. It was a difficult race. After only ten laps, the power steering failed on my car making the race a lot more physical from that point on. Later, all kind of lights turned on in the cockpit without apparent reasons. I am very satisfied with the team's effort this weekend."

Circuit Details

Circuit Length: 3,975 km
Number of Laps:  77 (306,075 km)

The Hungaroring is built 12 miles north east of Budapest, and is set in a natural Amphitheatre, as the track starts on one side, goes down into a valley before going down the far side, then turning and coming back in the opposite direction. Overtaking is virtually impossible here, as the track is narrow, with many slow corners.

1986 saw Nelson Piquet win the inaugural race after beating archrival, Ayrton Senna, in a close battle. He won again the following year, after Nigel Mansell was forced to forfeit the victory due to a loose wheel nut, with only 6 laps remaining. Damon Hill won his first Grand Prix victory here in 1993, and in 1994, Michael Schumacher raced his Benetton to the win for the teams’ maiden Hungaroring victory. Damon Hill won again in 95, and came second in 96, behind teammate Jacques Villeneuve.

In 1997, Damon almost achieved the impossible, bringing his little fancied Arrows to within a lap and a half of victory, before having to slow with a throttle failure, handing the win to his ex teammate at Williams, Jacques Villeneuve. Notorious among drivers as a very boring and hot circuit to compete on, the 1998 race was won by Ferrari driver, Michael Schumacher. However, the following two events, 1999 and 2000, were both mastered by McLaren driver, Mika Hakkinen.

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Sources:  Planet F1, F1 Live