Spanish Grand Prix 2000
Barcelona, 5th-7th May

TV Screenshots 

Race

Spain was a very disappointing grand prix, and 13th place is not much to write home about. It's not very enjoyable at the moment because we clearly need to increase our pace. You can look at it and say that we're only a second and a bit from pole position, but on the other hand, we were lapped during the race.

It was the same old story at the start – I made another bad one. I would say it was better than last time out at Silverstone, but it was still not good enough.

I went one way on set-up for the race because I knew the tyres would go off at the rear, and then we changed the wing a bit for the last stint. The car was better early on but became a bit of a handful towards the end of the race.

It was all a bit of mixture really. Unfortunately, I didn't get all the fuel onboard at my second stop, which meant I had to come in near the end for an extra pitstop. It didn't really matter, because it wasn’t as if I was fighting for position or the final point.

We’ve got to start making progress quickly so that we can stick our noses into the battle just ahead of us, otherwise we're not going to get anything from this season. It's very difficult to know what area we're lacking in, but it’s clear that we are lacking stability compared with McLaren and Ferrari in particular. Comparing the Ferrari to our car, the difference is like night and day.

I also think we've got a lot of problems at slow speeds, especially with traction. We've moved forward a bit on braking, but we still haven't improved the mid-corner and exiting stability. Hopefully, we'll learn something in testing at Jerez this week.

The European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring is next, and I'm going there with good memories from my victory last year. Last season it rained and I’m hoping for more of the same this time around.

Jaguar Racing, 7th May: Reliability good, speed bad:

It was a disappointing day in Spain for Jaguar Racing, and there was no way of hiding the fact that the R1s were not quick enough on race day. Eddie Irvine came home 11th, while a late 'splash-and-dash' fuel stop dropped Johnny Herbert from 12th to 13th.

Once again problems with the clutch handicapped both drivers at the start. Both had gained place when Pedro de la Rosa was put to the back of the grid for a technical infringement, so Eddie was ninth on the grid and Johnny 14th. But when the lights went out they struggled to get off the line cleanly. Irvine lost three places, and Herbert one. Eddie's task was made harder when, at the start of the second lap, he lost another spot as Jos Verstappen charged past at the first corner.

After that, it was hard slog to the flag at a circuit known for its lack of overtaking places. For a while the two green cars were separated by Alex Wurz's Benetton, but after the first stops the Austrian got ahead of Irvine. For the remainder of the race the Jaguars ran in team formation, with Eddie 13th and Johnny 14th. The late retirement of Jenson Button’s Williams moved Eddie up a spot.

The good news was that for the third race running both cars made it to the finish. Reliability issues are definitely under control, and now it’s time for some urgent development work.

"The good news is they finished," said team boss Neil Ressler. "The bad news is that we weren't fast enough. It looks like the reliability issues pretty much behind us, and we have to concentrate on getting speed back. We're just not quick enough. The guys drove them as fast as they'd go, but they just wouldn't go fast enough. We'll be focusing more attention on that starting on Monday morning.

"I think the development of the car is certainly behind schedule, and we'll be trying some things on the car at Jerez this week. It's not that we're miles back, especially in qualifying."

Race results: 

1 Hakkinen McLaren 1h33'50"390
2 Coulthard McLaren +16.0
3 Barrichello Ferrari +29.3
4 R Schumacher Williams +37.3
5 M Schumacher Ferrari +47.9
6 Frentzen Jordan +81.9
7 Salo Sauber 1 laps
8 Zonta BAR 1 laps
9 Fisichella Benetton 1 laps
10 Wurz Benetton 1 laps
11 Irvine Jaguar 1 laps
12 Trulli Jordan 1 laps
13 Herbert Jaguar 1 laps
14 Gene Minardi 2 laps
15 Mazzacane Minardi 2 laps
16 Heidfeld Prost 3 laps
17 Button Williams 4 laps
18 Verstappen Arrows 40 laps
19 Villeneuve BAR 44 laps
20 Alesi Prost 64 laps
21 De La Rosa Arrows 64 laps
22 Diniz Sauber No time  

Qualifying

Johnny admitted that he was frustrated to be back in 15th spot after a promising test.

"It's disappointing for everyone," he said. "A couple of tenths would have made a big difference, but if you look down the grid, everyone would be saying the same thing. The wind is quite a factor. It huffs and puffs on some laps and won't blow on another, and you'll be okay. It's about trying to get the right huff and puff at the right time.

"After this morning I tried less wing, but realised it wasn't the way to go, so I put it back for the last two runs. It was better, but unfortunately on my last run I had a bit of a moment. I went a bit wide and lost some time there."

"It was something you don't need!" he said. "Thankfully, I was called in that lap so I braked a little earlier for the first corner. When I braked it tried to turn right, but I caught it. It wasn't a big moment, but you don't need that to happen at a grand prix weekend."

Eddie Irvine commented:

"To be honest, I could have equalled Frentzen. The car's just been difficult today. It's been difficult all weekend, but we had a really nice car at the test last week. We made some changes and I thought that's the step that we needed to make. I reckoned we'd gained three or four tenths. However, changes we've made since then have wiped out that advantage. We need to look at that more closely, because there's no way that we should be that slow."

Eddie also struggled to find a clear lap, and finished his allocation of 12 laps well before the end so he would not get caught in the usual traffic jam as everyone waited until the last minute.

"I aborted two," he said. "Once, Hakkinen totally messed me up. We changed the car on the second one, but it wasn't better, so I came back in. The last T1 was not so good, T2 was pretty okay, and on T3 I lost the rear end at the last hairpin and it cost me two tenths. That might have got me eighth. I felt I could get into the low 1m22s with no traffic. I wanted to miss the 'Happy Hour' at the end."

Technical director Gary Anderson agreed that the team hadn't quite got the R1 dialled into this notoriously tricky circuit.

"We should be further up, really," he said. "Here, if the balance is off you run wide, the track’s dirty and you just don't get the grip. Make a small adjustment to the car and you can lose half a second if you don't quite get it right. And we've got to really. This place is bloody strange!

"We're doing bits and pieces to try and move forward a bit, but unfortunately it's just going to take a bit of time, that's all. Three tenths would put us seventh and make us reasonably happy."

Gary said the team was convinced that Johnny's suspension problem was a one-off.

"It was something out of the blue. We've done all the running this year with the same design so it's a bit odd. In fact, we've done 20,000kms, so we assume that something was wrong with that particular bit."

Friday Practice

E-mail from Johnny, 5th May: 

To you all

The track was very green today which made practice very difficult. This is because the grip is low on a green track and the tyres do not last long as they are worked too hard. 

I only used one set of tyres today. They are not in good condition but I will use them as much as possible tomorrow and then switch to new tyres to see what the car is like on them before qualifying. 

Overall, practice was not too bad but we need to make improvements to the car for tomorrow.  

Johnny

Jaguar Racing, 5th May: Friday was a fairly quiet and uneventful day for Jaguar Racing, for like everyone else in the pitlane the team was in no hurry to pile up the laps and use valuable sets of tyres. However, by the end of the day Johnny Herbert and Eddie Irvine had done 51 laps between them and, most importantly, they encountered no major gremlins.

By sticking to a single set of tyres each, Johnny and Eddie slipped down the order while some of their rivals tried a new set of rubber near the end of the day. They eventually ended up in 13th and 15th places respectively, but the true picture will not emerge until Saturday's qualifying.

Johnny was pleased to get a solid day's work in after having problems during the Friday session at several grands prix this year.

"We delayed our first run, like everybody else, until the track had become user-friendly," said Johnny. "The recent rain had made it a little 'green' and it was not the same surface we were on during the test last week. We didn't really learn too much on set-up, but I am reasonably happy with the start that we have made to the race weekend."

Eddie was particularly disappointed with the traction of the R1, which was not as good as at the recent test.

"A fairly predictable Friday at Barcelona," said Irvine, who used the R1-04 chassis today. "I tried a new front wing this morning and although it didn't provide instant, dramatic improvement, we definitely got some direction from it. Overall, I was disappointed with the car's handling relative to the test we had here. We've got to focus on improving traction ahead of qualifying."

Technical director Gary Anderson said he was satisfied with the day's work. 

"We undertook a bit of set-up work to improve the balance of the car, but it was a fairly uneventful day. We could do with finding more speed, so we'll just have to put a new battery in the stop watch!"

Practice times:

1 M Schumacher Ferrari 1m21.982
2 R Schumacher Williams 1m22.509
3 Barrichello Ferrari 1m22.549
4 Trulli Jordan 1m22.582
5 Coulthard McLaren 1m22.651
6 Button Williams 1m23.119
7 Hakkinen McLaren 1m23.266
8 Diniz Sauber 1m23.394
9 Frentzen Jordan 1m23.495
10 Alesi Prost 1m23.582
11 Gene Minardi 1m23.868
12 Fisichella Benetton 1m24.026
13 Herbert Jaguar 1m24.114
14 Wurz Benetton 1m24.161
15 Irvine Jaguar 1m24.346
16 Verstappen Arrows 1m24.451
17 Zonta BAR 1m24.461
18 Heidfeld Prost 1m24.582
19 Mazzacane Minardi 1m24.767
20 Salo Sauber 1m25.948
21 Villeneuve BAR 1m25.166
22 De La Rosa Arrows 1m25.189

Race preview

During last week’s test the Jaguar Racing team concentrated primarily on aerodynamic and mechanical set-ups for the Spanish Grand Prix but also worked on remedies for the clutch problems encountered by both Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert during the start of the last two races. The present target for the Jaguar Racing team is to retain its fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship. In order to do this the team must start scoring points. Gary Anderson, Technical Director Of Jaguar Racing explains:

"We certainly seem to have resolved our reliability problems so we now need to focus on performance. We did a few starts during the test and have certainly made improvements in that area. The potential is certainly there but when the top two teams are so strong it’s hard for the rest to take any points as the first four positions are taken up by McLaren and Ferrari. Having said that we will keep our heads down and keep on going."

Johnny Herbert’s best result in the Spanish Grand Prix is a second place whilst driving for Benetton in 1995. Although he is not expecting a repeat performance of 1995, he will be working hard to score points this time around.

"Well I hope that now our reliability is better we can find a bit more speed. It’s always very difficult in Barcelona as the weather conditions can make the track vary so much. I hope we have similar conditions at the race as we did last week at the test as this would make everybody’s jobs easier. Personally I hope that I have a better weekend and can bring home the first points for the team."

After a productive test in Barcelona last week, Eddie Irvine is looking forward to discovering whether or not all the hard work will pay off:

"Last year’s race was memorable as the one everyone wanted to forget, because it was a bit on the boring side! I qualified on the front row but threw away the advantage with masses of wheelspin at the start, after that it was pretty much a high speed procession and I wound up fourth. I have a theory that you get dull races on tracks where you test a lot, but having said that, everyone’s performance level is much closer this season, so we might get some excitement. Last weeks testing went well for us in Barcelona which makes me optimistic. A good qualifying position will be vital if we are to get off the mark and score some points."

Jaguar Racing, 2nd May: Tyre choice for the Spanish Grand Prix could prove critical for Jaguar Racing as the team hunts its first points of the season. But a successful test at the Barcelona track last week has given the team fresh optimism for a race that is notoriously hard on tyres.

"Barcelona is one of the most severe circuits on the calendar," said Yoshihiko Ichikawa, Bridgestone’s technical manager. "The track is quick but the surface is very abrasive. The middle-to-high-speed corners, together with the consistent high speeds and harder braking into the few slow corners, tend to cause increased tyre degradation."

Bridgestone is expecting most teams to opt for a two-stop strategy in the race on Sunday and is bringing medium and soft compound tyres as a result.

However, pitstop tactics will be influenced by the weather. Rain fell during testing last week and last Sunday’s 500cc World Championship Motorcycle Grand Prix, held at Jerez in southern Spain, was stopped because of rain during the race (it’s not so easy to change tyres on motorcycles as it is on cars).

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Last updated 8th May 2000