A welcome return to Spa - free practice


FREE PRACTICE 1
Giorgio Pantano (EJ14/02)  20th  1:50.165 9 laps
Timo Glock (EJ14/01)  22nd     1:50.317 19 laps
Nick Heidfeld (EJ14/03)  24th       1:50.950  10 laps

FREE PRACTICE 2
Nick Heidfeld (EJ14/03)  21st     1:48.803  19 laps
Timo Glock (EJ14/01)  22nd       1:48.817   21 laps
Giorgio Pantano (EJ14/02)  23rd       1:48.962 17 laps

NICK HEIDFELD 
“In terms of reliability it was a pretty trouble-free day apart from one little gearbox oil leak towards the end of the morning session which we solved for the afternoon.  As for the car balance it wasn’t really very good at the beginning of the day.  We managed to improve it a lot but we are still quite far off having a good balance so hopefully I can do some good work with the engineers overnight as I’m sure there is a lot of lap time to be gained.”

TIMO GLOCK  
“It was not so easy for me to learn this circuit because although I drove here two years ago in touring cars, in Formula One there’s a big difference so it took the first 10 laps or so before I was completely okay with it.  The lack of grip on the track made it a little bit difficult as it was quite cold and we had a few problems getting the tyres and set-up just right.  We changed a lot of things before the second practice which made the car much better.  My timed laps at the end of the day were affected by traffic but overall I’m happy because I did my work, made no mistakes, and hopefully have been good for the team in the task of finding the right tyre.  The track at Spa is really good - I enjoy driving here!  Much more than I thought I would in fact, I have to confess before I came here this weekend I expected it would be like other tracks, but when you actually drive a Formula One car here it’s totally different.  What good fun, especially the fast corners like Eau Rouge and Blanchimont!”

GIORGIO PANTANO
“It’s my first time here in F1 so today I had to find confidence with the track in this car.  We also worked to find a good set-up for qualifying and the race and although we have worked hard, there is still more to find.  Now we are thinking about tomorrow and which steps to take that may help us go a little bit quicker.”

JAMES ROBINSON
HEAD OF RACE AND TEST ENGINEERING
“It was a normal Friday free practice day with no technical trouble or incident for Jordan, and made more lively by being at Spa.  It’s a fantastic circuit and seeing the guys out there taking on the challenge of this track was great.  As usual we worked hard on our practice homework looking at tyres for the rest of the weekend.  The decision will probably be based on what the weather will do on Sunday so we will study the tyre data and weather forecast very carefully.”


27 Aug 2004 15:44