| Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button will start tomorrow�s Brazilian Grand Prix from the 6th and 7th rows of the grid after qualifying 11th and 13th respectively in today�s one-lap shoot-out. Yesterday�s downpour brought chaos to first qualifying, so both B�A�R Honda drivers were relieved to maximise track time in the drying conditions of this morning�s practice. Conditions were warm and sunny for final qualifying this afternoon, with Jenson leading the drivers out of the pit lane as a consequence of his spectacular �off� in yesterday�s session. Jacques left the garage 30 minutes later lining up 16th for his flying lap. �My time was a little slower than this morning and the last sector was a couple of tenths down from where it should have been," said Button. "It�s so difficult to go out first because you�ve got to get rid of the hot air out on the circuit. The race set-up isn�t too bad and I think we have gone in the right direction in terms of the strategy, but I think we can make a few adjustments that will help us tomorrow.� Villeneuve was not happy. �I�m disappointed to be starting the race from 13th position," said the Canadian. "The most annoying thing is that as soon as I accelerated out of turn one, the engine noise changed rapidly. I lost a lot of power and that stayed for the whole lap so it�s very frustrating. Our speed was down as well so I hope we can identify the problem and deal with it for the race because, if not, it will be a big problem.� Team Chief David Richards commented, �We marginally underperformed with both cars today, Jenson because he was first on the track and Jacques with a technical problem, possibly an exhaust. It�s all too easy to look back on qualifying and wish you�d pumped out a little more fuel and run lighter, but I�m confident that our strategy is very sound for the race tomorrow.� Geoffrey Willis, Technical Director added, �It is always difficult to comment on Saturday qualifying since fuel loads have such a significant effect on grid position. It is quite possible that some high qualifiers have compromised their race strategies. I think both our drivers could have been faster; Jenson was disadvantaged by running first and Jacques had a mechanical or engine problem which we have yet to confirm but will investigate when we get the car back from parc ferme. We look forward to the race tomorrow when I hope we will continue to run reliably. Our aim is to finish in the points again, this time with both drivers.� Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development added, "Although I was hoping for slightly higher grid positions today I'm still confident that our strategy is correct for the race tomorrow." |