Formula One news
Klien leads Webber as Jaguar shape up
02 April 2004 / Results / Photos |
| Christian Klien |
It was an encouraging day for the Jaguar Racing team today as all three drivers, Mark Webber, Christian Klien and Björn Wirdheim took to the track for the first time today at the new Bahrain Grand Prix Circuit. While track temperatures soared above fifty degrees, both the teams and the drivers had their work cut out to come to terms with the new track as quickly as possible. Christian Klien, although struggling with balance in the morning, produced a good lap near the end of the second session, placing him in 5th position with a time of 1:31.789. Not far behind him was team-mate Mark Webber in 8th place with a time of 1:32.041. Third driver Björn Wirdheim spent the day working on tyres, producing a time of 1:34.317 and a 21st place.
"It's been a good first day for us here and we have managed to gather a lot of information from the track. I worked through my programme and completed it fully," Webber explained. "As you can imagine with it being a new track we have spent a lot of our time working on tyres. Until you get out there you really don't know what to expect but there were no surprises and we are in good shape. The track cleaned up a lot as the day progressed which makes a big difference to the car and the grip was good by this afternoon. We will work on set-up tonight in preparation for tomorrow and I am already looking forward to getting back out on track."
Christian Klien commented, "I really like the track and it was good fun out there today. I spent the morning session learning the circuit and there are some good corners where you are going from 300kph down to 80ish and it's not easy to find the ideal braking point on such a new track. If you go off-line it's really dusty and of course this is affecting the tyres and the set-up. The engineers and mechanics did a good job setting the car up for the second session, hence my good time. The track may change come tomorrow but either way we are looking good and I am encouraged going into tomorrow."
Björn Wirdheim added, "The track was quite slippery out there this morning but I managed to stay on track and get some good information for the team. Unfortunately the car had a minor hydraulic leak which stopped me earlier than planned but the team turned the car round and I was out again this afternoon. I have spent most of today on tyre work which is vital for the team going into tomorrow's session. I enjoyed the track and as usual, I wish I was back out there with them for tomorrow.
Dr Mark Gillan Head of Vehicle Performance concluded, "We got all three cars out very early today to help the drivers learn the track. They did a good job to get up to speed quickly with the layout and we could see that the circuit is relatively big on traction and braking. Björn suffered a minor hydraulic leak in the first session but the mechanics turned this around very quickly. All three drivers were focusing on tyre work and general set-up and although we were suffering from a lack of balance this morning, we made some good changes and saw the results of these in the second session. Both Christian and Mark were very strong in the second session."
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