Ferrari

Michael Schumacher: "It was good fun driving on the Monaco circuit today. The set-up was correct right from the start. This morning I hit the barrier after a track rod broke in the chicane. This was a bit frightening as I only had one wheel steering. We did a good job today and for a change, I think today's order gives us a fairly accurate picture of what we can expect in qualifying. A big compliment to Bridgestone, whose tyres worked really well here. We are quicker than last year in several parts of the circuit."

Eddie Irvine: "I think we are looking quite good and I have nothing to complain about. I spent the whole day getting rid of understeer, because it is the worst complaint to have here: the less I had, the quicker I went. I know what tyres I want to use and now we must concentrate on finding the best qualifying set-up. I still have to work on my driving at a couple of corners. On Saturday, the main concern will be traffic, as it was very bad today."

Jean Todt: "We worked mainly on race set-up today. The overall situation looks good. However, we must bear in mind this is only the first day of free practice when it is difficult to make comparisons with the opposition. It is clear that the Bridgestone tyres are performing very well on our car and we are working well with their staff. Tomorrow is unusual, in that we have an extra day to work on the cars. On Saturday, we will concentrate on qualifying which is particularly important on this circuit."

Mclaren

Mika Hakkinen: "Looking at our first session times, this morning was a bit disappointing, but we were able to improve things on the car. As a result everything was better for the second hour, my performance improved and I am pleased with the work we did. The engineers did a good job on the car. I am glad I kept it on the track and we will see what Saturday brings."

David Coulthard: "A regular first day at a grand prix - trying to find your way round the circuit and going through all the set up procedures. The main focus for me at the moment is some understeer, so that is what I am trying to improve."

Ron Dennis: "We feel more comfortable this afternoon. Our set up this morning was wrong, but fortunately we quickly identified the problem and the times this afternoon reflect the fact. Unfortunately we wasted this morning which affects the overall result of today, but this shouldn't impact on Saturday's qualifying."

Norbert Haug: "It was good to see the improvements in the second part of the practice sessions and I believe we can achieve a tip top performance on Saturday."

Prost

Olivier Panis: "We have done a long, but good day's work today. Under the guidance of Alain, I started the free session this morning calmly to get to know the track and then to attack more vigorously in the second part of the day. I began to lap among the fastest times and then I worked on the set-up. To clock the third-fastest time is very good, but we must not stop there. We still have work to do to remedy an understeer problem and make progress before tackling Saturday's qualifying session."

Jarno Trulli: "Overall, I am satisfied with my first day's practice on the Monaco circuit. Despite a transmission problem this morning and using the same tyres throughout the whole session, I was fifth position with only 25 minutes remaining. We had not planned to use another set of tyres and, therefore, to improve my time, I took some risks. Unfortunately, I went off by driving straight on at Ste Devote and so I curtailed my session. "

Alain Prost: "Before going out on a circuit like this in Monaco, one is always a little nervous, as it is so difficult to know what lies ahead. In Monte Carlo, everything is possible ! After this first session, we are quite satisified with the performance of our cars. We have improved very much the performance of the chassis since Imola and Peugeot have done some very important work with the engine. On this type of circuit, the difference can be felt immediately. So far , so good ; but everything depends on Saturday's qualifying session. The track will change a lot and we have to continue to work very carefully. "

Stewart

Rubens Barrichello: "I'm pleased with today. I struggled with traffic at the end of the second session and spent 95 percent of the time looking for a good race set up. I think we still have a problem with oversteer in medium speed corners but I'm confident we will sort this out before Saturday's qualifying."

Johnny Herbert: "I had no particular problem apart from a lot of understeer this morning. We changed the car for the second session to try and reduce the understeer but actually went too far. The thing with Monaco is that it's all about balance and to be honest we haven't found the perfect set up but we know what we have to do to improve matters before Saturday's qualifying."

Paul Stewart: "We had two productive sessions today. Both Rubens and Johnny went through an extensive programme of evaluating tyres and suspension settings. Today's two practice sessions bode well for good qualifying performances."

BAR

Jacques Villeneuve:"So far this has been our best free practice this season and compared to what I normally achieve at Monaco, this is a positive result. We've done some good testing last week in the narrow circuit of Nogaro so the whole team is very hopeful for this weekend. We are still working on the same line of set-ups from qualifying in Imola and from testing in Nogaro and it seems to be the way to go. On this circuit, we need to improve our speed a little bit as we are about a second behind the leaders but if we can manage that we should do quite well."

Mika Salo:"I have had no problems with the car today and every run just got better and better. We made big steps to improve reliability during the test in Nogaro last week. My run was trouble-free, which is good as this circuit leaves no room for mistakes. I did find that the new surface on the straights meant they were smoother and I could go faster as it is not so bumpy. I am planning to push 100% during the qualifying on Saturday."

Craig Pollock:"Both drivers have done a very good job in Monaco for the first time at this race for British American Racing. Finishing this opening day with all four cars intact, on such a challenging circuit, is extremely important. It is very encouraging to see both Jacques and Mika up there in the first ten. It's proof, once again, that the team is heading in the right direction."

Jordan

Damon Hill: "I had a very good start today. We were competative right up until the end of the session. We know the reason why we ended up down in 11th place so I have every reason to feel optimistic that we will be competative again on Saturday. I am looking forward to the qualifying session."

Heinz Harald Frentzen: "This morning's session went very well and we are looking good on this circuit. Unfortunately I only completed one lap in the second session. I was running close behind a prost when it slowed down and I swerved to avoid it, and lost the car in the process. Luckily the damage is not too bad, but it is a real shame to have lost so much time on the track."

Williams

Alex Zanardi: "Today we made some quite good progress on the set up of my car. Even if I had a little problem in the first session, which stole from us some valuable time, today's free practice was quite satisfying for me. Well, the car still isn't perfect, of course and I know that we will have to work hard from now, in order to put it in the best condition for tomorrow's qualifying. Every team is going to improve its cars, but I feel confident that during the night we will take good advice...!"

Ralf Schumacher: "Primarily we worked out the set up for the race, today. At the moment I am quite satisfied with the car, which didn't give me any problem during both sessions. With regards to my seventh position, I can say that it can be enough for today, but it won't be tomorrow. I am totally committed to be faster in tomorrow's qualifying and to improve my performance, in order to gain a good position on the starting grid."

Patrick Head: "We had a pretty useful practice today. We got much better reliability on Alex's car than we had previously, which I hope continues for the week-end. We learned a lot with both cars and we will continue working on them before tomorrow's qualifying. We have got to make further progress tomorrow but we have had a fairly useful day."

Arrows

Pedro de la Rosa: "We still have some work to do on the car, as we had some understeer problems during both sessions. I was very lucky, however, to be able to complete so many laps and get some valuable practice on my first outing on the circuit. I feel sure that there is more to come from both me and the car and look forward to tomorrow’s qualifying."

Toranosuke Takagi: "It was most unfortunate that I had to miss most of the second session when I stalled on the track, after I went off at the escape road. I managed to avoid a barrier at Mirabeau, but stalled the engine when I reversed the car to get back onto the circuit. Despite this I hope to do well during qualifying."

Tom Walkinshaw: " I am certain that Tora would have been able to improve on his time, if he would not have missed the second session. As we did not suffer from any other major problems I am sure the Team will do its very best to make sure that our cars will be competitive during tomorrow’s qualifying."

Minardi

Marc Gene: "A pretty good first day. After the first lap I realized how different this track is in comparison with the others. It looks like a different world. During the first session I managed to cover the maximum of laps on a track which turned out to be also very difficult to learn. I felt soon very comfortable in my car and in the second session I succeeded in working even better on it. I have loved this circuit since the very first laps even though it is very demanding and challenging. But this is the best in Montecarlo!."

Luca Badoer: "During this morning session everything was going right until the gear box failed at the beginning of the second session. I felt something strange in terms of clutch and gearbox. Unfortunately this problem prevented me from achieving a significant number of laps and there was no time even to change the tyres. I am disappointed because I couldn't improve my time. Despite the disappointment of today, I feel sure that there will be enough time to sort out the problems for saturday."

Roger Griffiths - Motorsport Project Leader, Ford Motorsports: "It was an encouraging first session especially for Marc. We had no engines problems at all and everything went very well for us, very reliably. The plan now is to change the engines for saturday's qualifying session."