Teams unimpressed with state of Interlagos

Situated just outside Sao Paulo, the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace is renowned for its basic paddock facilities and for being one of the bumpiest circuits on the calendar. But this year the F1 fraternity has been greeted not only by a partially re-surfaced track - bumps still intact - but also by half-finished bridges, grandstands and lavatories and by hordes of construction workers still swarming over the pot-holed paddock.

"I personally think the pits and paddock are not good enough," BAR team boss Craig Pollock told British newspaper The Guardian. "It badly needs an upgrade of the working conditions for the teams.

"Moreover, having had a huge accident here with Ricardo Zonta, admittedly when we didn't have a very good car, the condition of the track surface is best left to the imagination."

Some improvements have been made, including mesh-fenced cages for trackside officials, which have been installed following the death of spectator marshal in the Australian Grand Prix. Assurances have also been made that there will be no repeat of advertising boards falling onto the main straight, as was the case during qualifying last year.

Despite the teams' and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's fondness for the event, McLaren team co-ordinator Jo Ramirez believes it may take more to retain its Grand Prix status.

Ramirez said: "I told the promoter, Tamas Rohonyi, that the teams may love Brazil and the people - after all we've had more Brazilian world champions than any other nationality - but if you look at the state of the facilities at this place, it is written on the wall that its days are numbered."

To add further fuel to the fire, security has come under the spotlight as the Jaguar Racing team has had eight computers containing important data-logging information stolen from the pit-lane. The incident will not make the weekend any easier for the already struggling Milton Keynes-based team.

Other teams are also likely to find themselves at a disadvantage. Almost a week since its arrival, the Williams team was still struggling to find phone lines for its all-important modems. Team manager Dickie Stanford said: "They seem to have gone back about six years. Last year they seemed to have been getting on top of things, but this year it's been awful. We've been here since Monday and we're still having difficulty getting phone lines installed."