Rogue Profile of British Americian Racing

“We thought we had solved the reliability problems but obviously not because today I had gearbox failure. I don’t know if I could have finished in the points but if you don’t finish you don’t get to find out. We really have to work hard on our reliability in testing next week before we can hope to move forward,” he said. “If we can finish a race, we can at least take advantage of opportunities. I haven’t finished the first three races now and that’s obviously not good, but I would like to think that I’ve had my run of bad luck now and the next few races can bring me better things.”

“Despite a relatively problem-free weekend we didn’t achieve a consistent balance on my car, which is something we will have to work on,” Panis said. “I was hoping to at least finish the race today in order to bring the team some valuable data, but unfortunately the throttle linkage problem cut the engine on my forty-fourth lap.”

“I’m disappointed that we missed a big opportunity to score one or two points today but I’m very pleased with the team because they did a great job this weekend. I made a very good start and the pitstop strategy and execution were brilliant,” Panis said. “After the first stop I rejoined the race ahead of Frentzen and I was able to keep him behind me without difficulty before an exhaust failure ended my race. We seem to have reduced our reliability problems to a minimum but we still need to keep pushing to keep on top of them. When points opportunities come our way we need to be in a position to take advantage of them. I’m looking forward to testing in Estoril next week and to the next race in Austria as I’m hungry for a good result.”

“We had a problem with the clutch at the start and lost everything because of that. By the time we started the car I was obviously a lap down, but only half the cars finished the race today so you have to be there and keep pushing,” Jacques said. “It was a shame because we had a strategy to pit very late and even with all the fuel we had on board we were doing very competitive lap times. The tyres were also holding up very well so we could have had a good race, but the car suddenly developed a problem and I had to pull over. Good luck hasn’t been on our side again here so we have to hope for better things in Canada.”

“Obviously I’m disappointed not to finish my home Grand Prix again, especially just 8 laps into the race,” Jacques said. “We were running heavy for a one- stop strategy so I lost places at the beginning. Then we had the first signs of a loss of oil pressure and a couple of laps later the engine stopped. It’s frustrating to have such a bad race after the improvement we saw in qualifying.”

Panis had a strong start to Friday practice but he lost forty-minutes of the second
session when his BAR004 developed a gearbox problem. The Frenchman reported that
he was happy with the handling balance but did not have sufficient time to scrub
in his tyres.

"It was a real shame that we had a gearbox problem in the second session
because I was quite confident that I could have continued to improve,"
Panis explained. "I had only done 3 laps so I lost most of the afternoon
and didn’t get the chance to do a back-to-back with the second tyre. Of course,
we have Jacques’ data to look at but every driver prefers to do his own, back-to-back."

At the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix Minardi team principal, Paul Stoddart threatened
to walk away from Formula One after a consortium of four teams, lead by McLaren
informed him in the paddock that they were taking him to arbitration to recover
the early fought over television funds. The Australian was paid the monies originally
intended for Prost earlier in the season after coming to an amicable agreement
with Bernie Ecclestone.

Stoddart fully believed he was entitled to the funds and Bernie Ecclestone
agreed. Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan, Dave Richards and Frank Williams have other
ideas and want the cash distributed evenly. According to Stoddart, this action
will kill his minnow team, as he cannot afford a $2,000,000 fee to fight the matter
in court.

"I will turn my back on Formula One if this travesty of injustice is
allowed to proceed," Stoddart said. "I cannot afford four months
of my time nor the $2 million of costs that it will take to fund a challenge to
this. I have circulated a document to them (other teams) from Bernie’s solicitors
to me putting me on notice that they have now received the papers for this to
go to arbitration. At this time, with all the problems Formula One really does
have, for this to happen for me is nothing short of self-destruction."

"In the last 12 months we have been through so many problems, the sport
as a whole, and we’ve lost two teams. Now we are going to lose three, as I can’t
afford to fight this. Maybe there’s another one that’s not so steady as well.
Do they really want eight teams in Melbourne next year? I have gone through hell
and back again this year and this is the icing on the cake. It’s bad enough having
to deal with the problems I have had to deal with, but when you get knives in
your back from your co-team principals, I’m not interested. It’s a case of ‘Is
this the straw that breaks the camel’s back, do I want to be involved in a sport
with such individuals in it?’ I’m not sure that I do."

The 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix would turn out to be "one to forget" for
Jacques Villeneuve. In the Thursday press conference he forced the media’s attention
on to himself with an attack on his teammate and then after a differential problem
in the first practice session was back footed for the entire weekend in the media’s
stare. Being out qualified by Button was not in Villeneuve’s game plan but things
were to go from bad to worse for the French-Canadian.

Villeneuve was unable to start the race due to an electrical problem that damaged
his gearbox at the start of the parade lap. The 2001 F1 Rogues Champion was disappointed
not to have been given the opportunity to thrash Button as he had planned.

"A big disappointment as we concentrated all weekend on the race set-up
and fuel strategy," he said. "We didn’t look too good in qualifying
but we were confident for the race. We couldn’t show it though because of an electrical
problem from the start. Bad luck, but that’s life."

Jacques Villeneuve pitted form seventh place on lap eighteen but his race would
not last much longer. At the end of his out-lap, the French Canadian’s BAR05 developed
a hydraulic failure and the car began to coast. Villeneuve had no choice other
than selecting the spot where to park his limping stallion, eventually selecting
a patch of grass just beyond the pit lane exit.

As Villeneuve directed his car to it’s final resting-place, Pizzonia was exiting
the pits and was fortunate not to collect the dawdling BAR.

"It’s very disappointing not to finish the race here because things
were looking good for us today," he said. "I had a problem changing
down and then the engine stopped shortly after. "