Today's Selected Quotes - Malaysian GP

McLaren

Mika Hakkinen: "As we were preparing for the race we worked a lot on getting the optimum set-up for the car and we made great progress during the two sessions. The team has done a good job preparing the car since Suzuka and I'm pleased. While its tough driving in these sweltering conditions it's not as bad as last year as we now have power steering in the car. There is no doubt that today's practice was a good way to start the preparations for the last race of the year."

David Coulthard: "My car was not so good as I would have liked and we worked hard to make some modifications to improve the feeling of the car. My main problem was understeer, but I'm sure that we will find further improvements by studying the data."

Ron Dennis: "Whilst the facilities at the Sepang circuit are the best in the world, the high levels of heat and humidity make the working conditions extremely hard for everybody. As a result the preparation of the cars is somewhat more difficult, which means that the outcome of today a little more satisfying for the team."

Norbert Haug: "Not a bad beginning for us and we learnt a lot for the race. I think we are also in a position to do well in tomorrow's qualifying."

Ferrari

Michael Schumacher: "We have had a good Friday here in Sepang. As expected, the car was handling quite well. It is very close between McLaren and us as we knew it would be. I think we will see an interesting weekend, where both parties will fight freely for a nice race, with both of us trying to add one more victory to our accounts. We want to win the Constructors‘ Championship and we only require a minium to get it, but I would like to do more than the minimum. Obviously, the hot conditions in the car are not very pleasant, but I am fit enough for it not to bother me. In fact, I suffer more in cold weather than in the hot."

Rubens Barrichello: "Today was a bit difficult for me because I've got a very bad cold. This afternoon, I will try and rest and recover to full fitness for tomorrow morning. The humidity is very high and I suffered in the cockpit. We improved the car a lot during the course of the day and I am very confident, both for tomorrow and for Sunday. I spent much of the time working on race set-up, using just one set of tyres."

Jean Todt: "The high temperatures here in Sepang make life very difficult and this has led the engineers to opt for the use of the air extractors mounted on the side pods. Today's work was routine: we worked on race set-up and aerodynamics. We have been able to conclude that the cars, which used only one set of tyres each, are generally handling well. As I have said at nearly every grand prix this year, I am sure that tomorrow, we will see the usual battle, the last of this season, between us and our traditional rivals for the front two rows. All the team is very focussed and motivated, given the importance of this race, which will decide the outcome of the Constructors‘ Championship."

Jordan

Jarno Trulli: "This is the first practice I have had for a while which was free of troubles â€" so this was a positive start for me. I spent the sessions learning the track, since last year I retired from the race on the warm up lap, so I have not run very much here before. I feel quite positive about our competitiveness, but I do not want to make any predictions for tomorrow as in Suzuka I thought we looked good on Friday but things did not work out for us in qualifying. Overall though, I am happy with today."

Heinz-Harald Frentzen: "Our car is more running better here than I had expected, although it is too early to make any predictions for tomorrow. We did our usual Friday homework, first checking all the systems were working and then trying different set-ups. The track became increasingly quick throughout the day as the grip levels improved, but we were also able to find some extra speed through the set-up changes we made, so I am satisfied with the work we did."

Williams

Ralf Schumacher: "The hot and humid weather conditions are obviously going to be tough for the race, especially for me as I am not really feeling well, as I've got quite a serious cold. Apart from that I think we have again a difficult situation getting our car up to speed on this track. It looked better in the second free practice session than this morning but there's still a lot to do."

Jenson Button: "I quite like this track, it's very wide and open but I really don't know what the race is going to be like here. It seems very difficult to get the car set-up properly here, as we've found today. The heat doesn't help at all, even if it's not as physically demanding as I would have thought."

Patrick Head, Technical Director: "As with everybody else, homework for the race was the order of the day with fuel and looking at cooling conditions for the race which will be very tough for the cars and for the drivers. We're looking forward to trying to produce a good result in qualifying in order to put us in good positions for the race."

Dr Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director: "In spite of these high temperatures and the great humidity the engines in both cars worked without problems. Both Jenson and Ralf went into the gravel and got the radiators full of stones and dust. Therefore the oil and water-temperatures suddenly rose and we had to keep both the cars in the garage to get them cleaned up."

BAR

Ricardo Zonta: "The car looks very good here. The set-up was quite good and we made some useful changes today where the car was going faster and faster all the time. I'm very happy about the progress we have made and I hope I can qualify in the top six tomorrow."

Jacques Villeneuve: "We're not sure what the problem was in that last session - the car just wouldn't run, and we're trying to find out why at the moment. The car is good. This morning, without doing any set-up work and in just a few laps, it was quick. We were sixth and there was still room for improvement this afternoon, so it's very annoying that we didn't get to run."

Malcolm Oastler, Technical Director: "A fuel pressure problem prevented us from getting Jacques out this afternoon. It's disappointing, because we could have done with the time on the circuit to develop the car set-up. Ricardo has done well today, though, which suggests our potential here could be quite good. It looks like it is going to be a tight fight for the remaining Championship points up for grabs this year."

Benetton

Giancarlo Fisichella: "In the first session I had good balance in the fast corners but very low traction in the slow corners. We improved this in the second session and have a good balance on old tyres, but still need to work on the new tyre balance. But eighth position for today is quite a good start to the weekend."

Alexander Wurz: "At the beginning of the session today we didn't have a very good balance on the car, but we made some good progress. Unfortunately when my configuration was at its best, there were yellow flags so I couldn't improve and lost fifth place. We still need to make some improvements but we have some good groundwork for the weekend."

Pat Symonds, Technical Director: "Some good solid progress on both cars today. The balance wasn't great on the cars to start with but certainly improved during the two sessions. Both cars ran well and I think we can look forward to some reasonable qualifying positions tomorrow."

Arrows

Pedro de la Rosa: "It's like every Friday. We went out there to try different set-ups with a lot of fuel. We didn't use new tyre and saved one set for the race, but that's it really. It was quite a good session with no real problems. We just worked as a team to adjust the car to get the set-up as good as possible for qualifying and the race. It's a very difficult circuit because it's hard on tyres, but also hard for the driver because of the heat."

Jos Verstappen: "First of all I had to get used to the circuit as I have never been here before so I went out straight away to learn it. I think it's a very interesting circuit to drive. At first we had a good lap time, but then we couldn't really gain any more time because we had to adjust the car in a big way as we couldn't feel any mechanical grip. Over the break we changed the car quite a lot and I think we improved it during the second session and also found a good set-up for qualifying. This morning we concentrated on a good race set-up as well but hopefully the set-up for qualifying is even better."

Steve Nielsen, Race Team Manager: "Today is really about evaluating the tyres and making the car cool properly in the extreme temperatures, which proved to be successful. It was a good practice session, especially for Jos, as he was learning the circuit."

Jaguar

Eddie Irvine: "We were on the pace straight away this morning but we didn't progress at the same rate from the first session to the second as some other teams. There's nothing untoward happening with the car and we know it is suited to this circuit. We have the set-up just about right. I think we are in pretty good shape for qualifying."

Johnny Herbert: "We made a change between the two sessions today which calmed the car down a lot," he explained. "Before that we had a fair bit of rear end instability which seems to be the problem here, compared to the understeer we had last year. It seems to be a problem for a lot of people as there were a few spins and slides out there today. All we need to do now is work on calming the car down even more which should stand us in good stead for qualifying."

Gary Anderson, Technical Director: "We concentrated on finding a good balance in race trim. We stuck with the one set of tyres on both cars. Looking at the timesheets there seems to be a significant gain from new tyres, so we should be able to make a leap forward tomorrow. I'm reasonably content with our day's work â€" we laid some solid foundations foe qualifying and the race."

Prost

Jean Alesi: "Today’s session went quite well and we were able to try a lot of different set-ups. It is a very demanding circuit for the car and the race will probably be very difficult. Tyre wear will also be an important factor on this track. The main objective for us now is to set-up the car to give us a really consistent performance in race configuration. "

Nick Heidfeld: "It is a pity that I had to stop early in the second session because of an engine problem. For me, it was important to do as many laps as possible because I wanted to learn the circuit. Before that everything had been going quite well. We had started to improve the car and I am confident that we can continue to improve tomorrow. I like the circuit. It was a little dusty this morning, at the start, but it got better. It is an interesting track. "

Alain Prost: "I think this was a positive session for us today from the point of view of the number of different set-ups we were able to try on the two cars. It is a pity that we were stopped with Nick’s car as he had been making constant progress. It is very difficult to know where we should be on the grid tomorrow. Taking account of how little development of the car there has been at this end of the season, we are not expecting a miracle, but we will work hard towards our goal of achieving a good result here in the final race of the year. "

Minardi

Gaston Mazzacane: "Apart from the first part of the session, when I was able to complete only a very short number of laps due to a gearbox concern, today's session turned out fairly well. I worked on the set-ups for the qualifying and the 3 seconds gap from the pole position makes me feel optimistic for tomorrow's sessions."

Marc Gene: "A big amount of work has been carried out on the car's settings today, with a lot of changes, yet the car is not well on the fast sections of the track. I think the weak point today is to be found in the aerodynamics, we will therefore concentrate in that direction. My car is well balanced, though it is not yet performing. Today we did a pretty good job testing several settings and I feel sure that over night we will work out the right one for tomorrow."