Panis: We're struggling

"I am not really satisfied with our performance today," said circuit rookie Cristiano da Matta, who qualified fourteenth. "We could already see in this morning's practice that the car was not behaving as well around here as we had initially expected it to. We'll have to check a few things overnight.

"But it's a fantastic circuit to drive - one of the best all season," added da Matta. "It is our home race, so I am ready to push for a good result. I think we'll be in better shape tomorrow."

Olivier Panis, who qualified third at Indy, was also disappointed with his thirteenth position: "We are struggling with the general grip and balance of the car. Unfortunately we are not yet at the competitive level we were at in Indianapolis. We will continue to tune the car to be quicker tomorrow"

Panis and da Matta were both inconsistent in where they lost time between the morning and afternoon sessions today, indicating a lack of technical answers for the team. It will be a late night for the engineers as they search for an edge over local rivals BAR-Honda, one of whose drivers (Sato) is ahead of them, and one (Button) behind.