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The Circuit de Catalunya is very well known to drivers and teams as a lot of winter testing is carried out here. Generally, if a car is fast on this track, it will be on the other circuits. Circuit de Catalunya has a good mixture of fast and slow corners with undulating bumps, so can produce a tough race. The long corners cause high tyre wear and understeer, and overtaking is difficult here so a good qualifying and pit stop strategy is crucial. The start-finish straight is one of the longest of all the F1 circuits, at close to one mile and drivers can top 190mph before braking into the first corner. As a further step towards achieving the goals shared by Jordan and Honda, 2001 has seen an enhanced engineering structure for the Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda team with the addition of a third engineer on each race car. Traditionally, Jordan has operated with one race engineer and one data engineer per car - the race engineer working directly with the driver while the data engineer gathers information gleaned from telemetry screens at the back of the garage. This system involved an onerous work load for the race engineer who was responsible not only for car set-up, but numerous other functions, including checking the legality of his car and liaising with mechanics and other race team members. For 2001, Jordan has strengthened its team by bringing on board assistant engineers to streamline its working practices.
A trouble-free, routine day for Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda, Jarno Trulli setting ninth fastest time, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen 13th. The Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were fastest on their home track at Imola. "A good day; trouble-free," said Trulli. "We worked all day with the race in mind; fuel, tyres and so on. Everything was working well but we don't know how quick we are compared to the other teams because we don't know the fuel loads they were running. I'm happy with the balance of the car even if the track conditions changed."
Jarno Trulli and Heinz-Harald Frentzen were sixth and eleventh quickest at the end of final practice before this afternoon's qualifying. Neither driver had any problems during the two 45-minute sessions run in sunny, warm conditions. "It was generally a good session without any problems," said Frentzen. "The car's handling seemed okay, except for a little bit of understeer which I was suffering from this morning. But I think, with the little bit of fine-tuning, we can cure that for qualifying. We certainly seem to have got over the problems we had yesterday!"
Jarno Trulli and Heinz-Harald Frentzen took sixth and eighth places on the grid at the end of a close competition in the upper level of the field.
There were no problems for either Jordan driver during the pre-race warm-up this morning. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was sixth fastest, two places ahead of Jarno Trulli. Both drivers successfully tried the fully automatic launch control, permitted for the first time in today's race.
Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda consolidated fourth place in the Constructors' Championship when Jarno Trulli finished fourth and scored another three points after 65 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya. |
