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British
Grand Prix
2000
Silverstone, 21st-23rd April
TV
Screenshots
Jaguar Press
Release, 23rd April:
Johnny's
comments:
"The start
was always going to be important and we both had bad starts today. We’re Still
having problems getting the clutch to do what it should do so that’s something
we’ve got to overcome. It turned out that wherever you were after the start is
where you finished and unfortunately I lost a lot of places, not just at the
start but during the first lap by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The race settled down after that and every time I got a bit of space I could
pick up the pace.
"I lost out
on a couple more places at the second pit stop when the car stalled, We’re not
disappointed. We are still a small team that has to grow. We have found some
reliability, the next step is to improve thy engine and the chassis. We need the
right people, the right equipment - the tools the bigger teams have to get the
job done."
Eddie's comments:
"I’m very
disappointed because I thought after Imola we would come here believing we would
take another step forward and seriously challenge for points. I had another
clutch problem at the start similar to Imola which is something we have to sort
out. As for the second pit stop, I engaged neutral and the engine just cut out.
It could be that it is related to the new pit limiter system but we have yet to
fully investigate it.
"It’s
difficult to understand why the car is so good in qualifying but a handful in
the race. I have a few ideas but until we get some quality testing done we won’t
really identify the problem areas and find the fix. In a way we are fighting
with one hand tied behind our backs because we don’t have enough wind tunnel
time to sort out the handling of the car. Overall though I’m encouraged
because we are moving in the right direction."
Jaguar-Racing,
23rd April: Character building would be one way to describe a difficult
first British GP for Jaguar Racing, but there was some comfort to be drawn from
a difficult day. While a variety of problems conspired to keep them outside the
top, Johnny Herbert and Eddie Irvine both made the finish for the second
consecutive race. The team appears to have got on top of its earlier reliability
problems, and now the details needed to be sorted out and a few frustrating
gremlins chased away.
As in previous
races, both drivers were hampered by problems with the clutch at the start,
which cost them a few places. With passing almost impossible at Silverstone,
they had no chance to make any progress up the order. Then just as they seemed
to be heading for the lower reaches of the top 10, the engines of both R1s died
in the second and final pitstops. Valuable seconds and positions went to waste.
At the end of a
tough afternoon, Johnny claimed 12th, a place and just 2.9 seconds ahead of his
team mate.
Technical
director Gary Anderson found himself with a lengthy job list at the end of
afternoon, and work on solving the problems will start straight away.
"It's been
bad because everything sort of headed off in the wrong direction. We got a bad
start, and then it was just a train going round. There were six cars at the
front motoring along merrily, and that was it. We've got to get out starts
sorted. There's something wrong there. We've practised them and got some good
ones, but whenever it counts it doesn't work. So I don't know what it is. We've
got a lot of good data from here, so we'll have a look at it.
"We've still
got this sensitivity issue where the car seems too nervous on corner entries.
We've got to look at it really. It's not necessarily an aero issue, but I'm sure
that's part of it. So we need to do a lot more wind tunnel work.
"Then at the
second stop both of them stopped for some reason. That shouldn't happen, so
there's something wrong there, so we'll have to have a look."
Despite the
dramas, Gary remained philosophical.
"But we have
to look at the positive side. The negatives are there and they happened, but the
positive thing is they both finished again. But it's probably better to get a
smack in the teeth line this than to scratch a point at the end of it and think
you're a hero. That's not we need at the moment; we need a lot of points.
Hopefully Barcelona next week will be a reasonable test."
David Coulthard won the British Grand Prix for the second time
in a row today. Against all the odds, and many weather forecasters' predictions,
the race was held in perfect sunny conditions.
In the most closely contested race of the season so far, Rubens Barrichello made
the most of his pole position to lead from the start. Ferrari team-mate Michael
Schumacher shot off the line but was blocked by Mika Hakkinen as he tried to
pass the McLaren. The two cars almost touched, Schumacher backed and
subsequently dropped to an uncharacteristic eighth.
Barrichello kept his lead for the first half of the race, hounded and harried by
Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen, the two McLarens and the Williams’ of Jenson
Button and Ralf Schumacher. When Frentzen pitted Coulthard instantly closed to
Barrichello and passed the Ferrari with a superb move into Stowe Corner.
Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher was held behind the BAR of Jacques Villeneuve and
dropped over 20 seconds behind the leaders. However, a long a first stint by the
double world champion after Villeneuve pitted put him back in the frame.
Barrichello suffered a mid-race hydraulic failure, causing him to spin and
subsequently retire. Frentzen led after the first round of pit stops, but both
he and the Williams cars were on two-stop strategies, leaving the McLarens of
Coulthard and Hakkinen to move into the lead.
Towards the end of the race, a series of fastest laps by the Finn closed the gap
between the McLaren team-mates to just over a second, but the Scot duly claimed
his first win of the season.
It was a tough race for Jaguar Racing. Both cars suffered clutch problems at the
start and slipped down the order. And during the pitstops, the engine died and
had to be restarted on both cars. In the end, the team was pleased that both
cars got to finish, albeit in 12th and 13th places. Johnny Herbert headed
team-mate Eddie Irvine for this first time this year.
Race results:
1 Coulthard
1h28m50.108
2 Hakkinen +0h0m01.477
3 Schumacher +0h0m19.917
4 R Schumacher +0h0m41.312
5 Button +0h0m57.759
6 Trulli +0h0m19.273
7 Fisichella 1 lap
8 Salo 1 lap
9 Wurz 1 lap
10 Alesi 1 lap
11 Diniz 1 lap
12 Herbert 1 lap
13 Irvine 1 lap
14 Gene 1 lap
15 Mazzacane 1 lap
16 Villeneuve 4 laps
17 Frentzen 6 laps
18 Heidfeld 9 laps
19 Zonta 24 laps
20 Barrichello 25 laps
21 De La Rosa 34 laps
22 Verstappen 40 laps
Jaguar Racing
Press Release, 22nd April: Jaguar Racing drivers, Eddie Irvine and Johnny
Herbert will line up in ninth and 14th places respectively on the grid for
tomorrow’s British Grand Prix.
Johnny's
comments:
"We
Were definitely going in the right direction today but on my first lap I
caught Mika Hakkinen through Becketts and lost a bit of time there. On my
second lap I got yellow flags at Vale because one of the Arrows had gone off,
then a Jordan at Brooklands so I had to scrap the lap really. It’s
unfortunate as it was going well all the way through the session but just didn’t
quite come my way at the end. Tomorrow we’ll be okay. It’s supposed to be
dry and I’m reasonably happy with what we’ve got and I think we can still
improve so I’m optimistic."
Eddie's
comments:
"l
think we came out okay today - it could be better but it could be a lot worse
with the weather playing such a big hand. It’s always difficult in these
conditions on grooves because you can’t let it flow so much. I had enough
fuel for three laps on my last run which ultimately cost me. Two more tenths
would have put me sixth, but I’m not complaining too much. As for the race,
who knows, if it rains anything could happen. I just have to nail the start,
make sure I keep my nose clean and stay away from any chaos. The car feels
pretty good. I wasn’t really affected by not running during the second
session today. I Was surprised flow well it worked without any tweaks. The
start, as always, will be crucial. We’ve made progress with the clutch so
that will help for sure."
Gary
Anderson's comments:
"We
missed our chance with Eddie today. The plan at the end was to put enough fuel
in to run three laps - quick, slow, quick - because we knew there was going to
be a lot of traffic and the plan was to find a gap and put a quick lap
together before the flag fell. Unfortunately he was a little slow on his out
lap initially and slow again on his second lap. I think he must have stopped
off at Abbey for cup of coffee! Johnny would have been a bit higher but he was
held up on his best lap which cost him a couple of tenths. It’s by no means
a disaster for us particularly with the way the weather has been. We can have
good race from where we are."
Jaguar-Racing,
22nd April: With the car parks saturated, most of the fans took Silverstone
officials' advice and stayed away from the track today, but they missed the most
spectacular and exciting session of the year so far.
Eddie Irvine
qualified in the top ten for the fourth race in a row by posting the ninth
fastest time at Silverstone this afternoon. On a damp but drying track, lap
times tumbled as the session wore on. At one point, Eddie’s best lap of
1m26.818 was good enough for pole. However, as others improved in the dying
seconds he was bumped down the order.
Johnny Herbert's
luck held and had a trouble-free session. He was quicker than his team-mate
through the first half of qualifying but eventually finished in 14th place with
a time of 1m27.461s - his best qualifying position of the season.
Up at the front,
Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello took his third career pole. His lap of 1m25.703
was just three thousandths of a second quicker than Jordan's Heinz-Harald
Frentzen. Mika Hakkinen had to settle for third on the grid - the first time
he’s not been on pole this year. Coulthard was fourth, ahead of Michael
Schumacher and Jenson Button, who put in an excellent performance to out-qualify
team-mate Ralf Schumacher for the second time this year.
BAR’s Jacques
Villenueve held the top spot before the final frantic five minutes. The 1997
world champion mastered the difficult conditions well, but eventually ended up
in 10th place. Jos Verstappen qualified in his highest qualifying position since
1996 by putting his Arrows in eighth place.
With one second
covering the top six, and a further second the top 16, tomorrow’s race is
going to be exciting, especially as the unpredictable weather conditions are set
to continue.
Qualifying
positions for the British Grand Prix:
1. R. Barrichello (Ferrari)
2. H-H. Frentzen (Jordan)
3. M. Hakkinen (McLaren)
4. D. Coulthard (McLaren)
5. M. Schumacher (Ferrari)
6. J. Button (Williams)
7. R. Schumacher (Williams)
8. J. Verstappen (Arrows)
9. E. Irvine (Jaguar)
10. J. Villeneuve (BAR)
11. J. Trulli (Jordan)
12. G. Fisichella (Benetton)
13. P. Diniz (Sauber)
14. J. Herbert (Jaguar)
15. J. Alesi (Prost)
16. R. Zonta (BAR)
17. N. Heidfeld (Prost)
18. M. Salo (Sauber)
19. P. de la Rosa (Arrows)
20. A. Wurz (Benetton)
21. M. Gene (Minardi)
22. G. Mazzacane (Minardi)
Johnny: my bad
luck must end
Jaguar-Racing,
22nd April: Johnny
Herbert revealed his frustration at the bad luck that has dogged his recent
career at yesterday’s FIA press conference.
"For
most of the end of last year I thought the bad luck had washed away. But it’s
started again, and what happened in Australia was probably the worst luck I have
had in the whole of my career. It has got slightly better since then, but it was
back again this morning.
"The sport
is difficult enough when things are going well, so when you're out of luck -
especially when you get hit by it early in a session, like it did with me today
- it's impossible to get any running. That's bad for a driver's morale. Now we
have got to make the thing work. It's no good having one car running strong
while the other one sits in the garage."
Johnny is hoping
that good fortune may smile on him again at a wet Silverstone, as it did during
the rain-soaked European Grand Prix last year. But he remains realistic.
"When
conditions are like that, a driver's success depends on his being able to choose
the right tyre at the right moment. I may be able to do a similar thing here,
but then I might have to choose at the wrong moment. The window of opportunity
is very small: let's see what turns up on Sunday."
Jaguar-Racing,
21st April: As expected, the rain came down even harder during the second
and final practice session at Silverstone today, denying the teams any chance
for meaningful set-up work. Jaguar Racing’s Johnny Herbert was one of only two
drivers to improve his time from the morning session, recording a best lap of
1m39.690s after engine problems prevented him from setting a time earlier in the
day.
The conditions
were treacherous and most drivers went off the road at some point. Prost’s
Jean Alesi, always spectacular in the wet, led the way with three spins. Gaston
Mazzacane also had a big moment at Becketts, spinning his Minardi into the
gravel. Ralf Schumacher set the fastest time of the session. He put in a lap of
1m30.593s just before the heavens opened. Minutes later, drivers had trouble
getting within 30 seconds of that time.
The rain also
caused problems off the track. The session was red-flagged at one point after a
recovery vehicle became bogged down while towing David Coulthard’s stricken
McLaren. Outside of the confines of the circuit, the conditions are even worse,
and the organisers have closed all of the public car parks for tomorrow due to
flooding. However, they will be open for the race on Sunday.
The weather is
expected to be dry for qualifying tomorrow, but more rain is expected on Sunday.
Eddie Irvine and
Johnny Herbert didn't learn very much during a wet and generally miserable first
day of practice at Silverstone. The first part of the morning session was held
in dry conditions, before the rain swept in. The wet weather stayed for the rest
of the afternoon, despite the occasional burst of sun through the clouds.
While the track
was still dry, Eddie Irvine set a time of 1m28.169s, which ensured that he was
in second place at the end of the day. However, he admitted that his position
didn't reflect the real situation.
"We learned
absolutely nothing,” said Eddie. “Whenever it was raining heavily there was
just no point in being out there. The car was aquaplaning everywhere, so I came
straight back in. It's impossible to tell where we are relative to everyone
else. The wind is totally different to last week's testing, so even in the dry
we were back to square one."
Johnny Herbert
wound up at the other end of the order. He was unable to set a proper time in
the morning after his engine cut-out at the start of his first flying lap, and
while he had no gremlins in the afternoon, conditions meant that he couldn't
improve his position. He finished the day in 22nd place.
"It was just
a normal day for me," said Johnny. "It is always something different,
somewhere, and it keeps rearing up its ugly head and happens at some time during
the weekend. It's not good for me and the team doesn't need it. It's silly that
it's still happening. I went through all this last year."
Johnny agreed
that the atmosphere seems a little different this year.
"We've been
used to July for the British GP for many a year, so that makes it different.
It's obviously colder, but we've also had wet races in July – it's not as if
it only rains in April!"
For once the team
had a relatively quiet time after the session, since there was very little for
the drivers to discuss in the debrief.
"It was a
bit of a waste of time," admitted technical director Gary Anderson.
"We've run a lot in the wet in testing, so hopefully we'll have a good
set-up we can put on the car on Saturday. We just have to wait and see what the
weather will do."
"It's the
same for everybody," said team director Andy Miller. "We did a bit in
the wet, so we might have made a bit of progress on set-up. Eddie went out in
the afternoon but it was so dangerous – just wheelspin and aquaplaning. It
wasn't worth risking damaging the car. Johnny's problem this morning was a kill
on the engine – a safety thing – and one of the parameters was wrong. The
engine was fine, so it was just a question of changing the component that was
causing the problem."
It was a familiar
story in the first practice session at Silverstone on Friday morning as once
again Johnny Herbert was struck by mechanical gremlins.
The session
started under sunny skies, but clouds soon moved in and heavy rain fell halfway
through the session, interrupting the work of teams who had to switch their cars
from dry to wet set-ups.
Before the rain,
Heinz-Harald Frentzen set the quickest time of 1m27.683s, while Eddie Irvine
gave Jaguar Racing some encouragement with second place on 1m28.169s after
running 17 trouble free laps. The top six was completed by David Coulthard, Mika
Hakkinen, Jarno Trulli and Jacques Villeneuve.
After a couple of
exploratory laps Johnny was about to start his first flying lap when the
Cosworth engine cut out at Copse corner, forcing him to park his R1. He finished
the session in 21st place with only an unrepresentative 11m37.940s to his name.
He was not the
only driver in trouble. Ralf Schumacher didn't set a time at all after stopping
at the pit exit. Others to end their session early were Pedro de la Rosa and
Villeneuve. Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher did not set a proper time before the
rain fell, and thus found himself down in 20th place.
Frentzen showed
that he is going to be a factor this weekend, come rain or shine, by setting the
fastest time in the wet half of the session. Once the session ended, the rain
stopped and the sun returned.
Friday
practice times:
1 H-H Frentzen
Jordan 1m27.683s
2 E Irvine Jaguar 1m28.169s
3 D Coulthard McLaren 1m28.525s
4 M Hakkinen McLaren 1m28.659s
5 J Trulli Jordan 1m28.705s
6 J Villeneuve BAR 1m28.845s
7 R Barrichello Ferrari 1m29.083s
8 A Wurz Benetton 1m29.111s
9 G Fisichella Benetton 1m29.214s
10 M Gene Minardi 1m29.557s
11 J Button Williams 1m29.775s
12 P Diniz Sauber 1m30.214s
13 P de la Rosa Arrows 1m30.279s
14 J Verstappen Arrows 1m30.313s
15 M Salo Sauber 1m30.643s
16 J Alesi Prost 1m30.656s
17 N Heidfeld Prost 1m31.006s
18 G Mazzacane Minardi 1m31.250s
19 R Zonta BAR 1m31.322s
20 M Schumacher Ferrari 1m36.425s
21 J Herbert Jaguar no time
22 R Schumacher Williams no time
In a Jaguar-Racing
website exclusive interview: Johnny was asked if
he would like a wet race:
"We had four days testing; three of them were in the
wet, and I was happy with the set-up we ended up with. So I have to say that
rain would suit me."
Johnny won the 1995 British Grand Prix and is looking forward to racing in front
of his home crowd.
"It’s always a good grand prix to go back to, the warmth
you get from the crowd is always very good and special."
Although he’s had a difficult start to the season, he thinks that this has
taken the pressure off of the Jaguar Racing team.
"I don’t think that
there’s any extra pressure racing for Jaguar in front of a home crowd," said
Johnny. "Maybe with the problems that we’ve gone through people aren’t
expecting anything special, which make the pressure a bit easier."
Jaguar Racing
press release, 17th April: After a four-day intensive test session at
Silverstone last week, the teams have had plenty Of preparation for the 2000
British Grand Prix. Just 25 miles from its base in Milton Keynes, this is the
home race for the Jaguar Racing team. It is also the first British Grand Prix
for Jaguar.
After a positive
result in Imola, Where both Cars finished in the top 10, the jaguar Racing team
is hoping to continue making progress at Silverstone. This race is especially
important as the team’s every move will be watched by the loyal British fans
whose numbers will reach around 90,000 on race day - whatever the weather!
The Jaguar Racing
team was hard at work at Silverstone last week explains Race Director, Andy
Miller:
"The
British Grand Prix has Come a bit earlier than we would have liked this year
and our preparation has been somewhat disrupted by the weather. Having said
that, we carried on regardless of the elements and ended up having quite a
reasonable test. We've made significant progress in a couple of areas which
hopefully we will reap the rewards of this weekend."
Winner of the
1995 British Grand Prix, Johnny Herbert always enjoys racing at Silverstone, the
track where every British driver wants to do well:
"It’s
always good to come back to Silverstone because the support for the British
drivers is always very good. This year should be particularly good, bearing
the Jaguar name, so it would be great to get a result here. It was good in
Imola to get both cars through to the end of the race but what we really want
is both cars in the points. The engine Issues we had earlier in the season put
us back a bit but think we’re on the right track now and we will keep moving
forward.
"The
atmosphere is always really lively at Silverstone, especially if a British
driver is doing well in the race. There's a real warmth that goes around here
and hopefully that warmth will dry the track out this weekend!"
After coming so
close at Imola, Eddie Irvine is keen to get back on track and prove the R1 Can
score points:
"On a
personal level, I have never really considered the British GP to be much of a
home race, as I did not spend a lot of time racing at Silverstone early in my
career. Of course, for Jaguar and Jaguar Racing it will be an important
weekend, appearing before its home crowd for the first time. It will be
interesting to see how much "green" there will be In the
grandstands.
"I am not
that keen on Silverstone as a track and overtaking is difficult, although it
does have one or two challenging corners. Technically, it is quite difficult
to get the set up right, but as we continue to progress with our car, we
should be in good shape. We have all done four days testing here last week,
but sod’s law says the track conditions will have changed for this
weekend."
A
qualifying lap of Silverstone with Johnny
Every effort is made to ensure factual accuracy but
no responsibility is accepted for this information
Jaguar-Racing
material used by kind permission
Last updated 23rd April 2000
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