Saturday Press Conference [2003-11-October]
Drivers: Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), Juan Montoya (Williams) and Cristiano da Matta ( Toyota)
TV unilaterals
Q: Rubens, it was an interesting and dramatic qualifying session. Obviously the conditions were great for you but talk about your lap first.
Rubens Barrichello: Well, in a way I think the situation is a little bit masked because it rained afterwards. But I think it was a great lap, not that I want to say much about it but it was definitely my best lap at Suzuka in a qualifying session. The car improved a hell of a lot since the morning. This time I was the one who had to follow Michael a little bit because my car was not doing very well. We started very similar on Friday and we went apart but I had to go back and the car was really good on a new tyre so I am really happy. I was thinking it was a good lap. I don't know for pole or not but it would have been quite close and then it started raining.
Q: It is a critical race for Ferrari, not only for your team-mate Michael with the drivers' championship but also with the constructors' championship....
Rubens Barrichello: Yeah, I mean, if I can win the race then probably for Michael it is done and for the constructors' we have myself and Juan Pablo on the front row and Michael a little bit behind with Ralf, so it's going to be quite difficult.
Q: Juan Pablo, your weekend didn't begin very well yesterday, you had a gearbox problem and lost a lot of time, but you made a great recovery today...
Juan Pablo Montoya: Yeah, I think I was a bit disappointed with the lap because I had too much understeer but this morning we showed the car has great potential, it has been very consistent even in the long runs so I think I am pretty pleased about it and I think we should be very strong.
Q: What are your thoughts about the battle for the constructors' championship. Has it changed the way you race, the way you drive?
Juan Pablo Montoya: Well, it's going to be pretty hard now. Ralf is going to start from the back of the grid and Michael is like P14, so they are going to be quite close together. It is up to me to get in front of Rubens, hopefully without touching this time – although there are no guarantees on that – and see what happens. We are going to do the best we can and if it meant to be our way it is going to be our way, if it's not, it's not.
Q: Cristiano, this is the second race in a row we have had a Toyota in the first three in qualifying and we have an all-South American top three. This is the first time you have been to Suzuka and it was a great performance...
Cristiano da Matta: Thank you. Of course, I am not going to believe that is the true spot where I should be starting on the grid but I believe that maybe we had a top eight if it wasn't raining. Anyway it is a big improvement from the team from yesterday to today. Yesterday we started quite a long way off the pace and this morning we made a couple of changes on the car. The engineers worked quite well overnight, the car was quite a bit better today. Of course, I will take the third place, I am not going to complain about that. I am just happy for me, especially, and also for the team.
Q: Olivier Panis is right behind you on the grid as well, so can you talk about the presence of Toyota here at the Japanese Grand Prix?
Cristiano da Matta: Well, I think for Toyota it couldn't be any better than starting third and fourth. Combined it is easily our best result for qualifying. It doesn't matter the way it came but it is still our best result in qualifying and it is going to make all the Toyota people here in Japan very happy and of course the team that has been working hard all year are happy too.
2003 Japanese GP News
Race Review[2003-12-October]
Sunday Quotes - Drivers[2003-12-October]
Race Results[2003-12-October]
Qualifying Quotes - Drivers[2003-11-October]
Qualifying Results[2003-11-October]
Friday Press Conference[2003-10-October]
Thursday Press Conference[2003-9-October]