Ferrari

Michael Schumacher: "As we had a good test last week, I did not go out in the morning session, in order to save my tyres. I went off the track on my first run this afternoon, because the brake balance was not right. After we fixed the problem, I managed to get through all our programme for the day. The track is very slippery and so it is not much fun to drive on."

Eddie Irvine: "Of course it is positive for us to be at the front, however, the car was not as easy to drive as it was during last week's test here, when we did a lot of work.. The wind has changed direction and it is as though I am driving a different car. I tried the new aerodynamic modifications, but I am not sure yet what difference they make. Tyre choice will not be straightforward either."

Jean Todt: "We did not run much today, as we had already tested here last week. It is difficult to draw any conclusions because of the different wind conditions. Both Michael and Eddie used the new aerodynamic configuration. On his first run, Michael had a brake balance problem. I think it will be a very close battle in tomorrow's qualifying session."

Mclaren

Mika Hakkinen: "We spent most of this morning checking set up and establishing how it has changed from the test that we did here last week. Everything went well but we still have some work to do before qualifying tomorrow."

David Coulthard: "I had a little spin coming out of the last chicane but it is nothing to worry about. The balance of the car is a little different to how it was at the test because of the different track conditions. But we just have to evaluate where we are and go forward from there."

Ron Dennis: "The only thing that splits the top four at the moment is ambient temperature, fuel load and tyre conditions. It was just a normal Friday."

Williams

Alex Zanardi: "Of course I am quite happy with today's result although I would be a fool to delude myself into thinking that I could be in the same position after tomorrow's qualifying without some further improvement to the car. I believe that our performance came also thanks to the fact that today we ran in the best moment of the free practice session, i.e. with the best track condition. I hope that today I have found a good set up for the car that will allow me to qualify among the first ten tomorrow."

Ralf Schumacher: "Generally I am quite happy with the Winfield-WilliamsF1 car although in some corners we have some understeer problems. I am quite sure that we will sort them out by tomorrow. At the end of the last session I could not go out anymore because we struggled a little with the gearbox. Anyway, I am quite confident for tomorrow."

Patrick Head: "Today, of course, we were doing some unfinished homework. At the test last week we had quite a few small problems that prevented us from covering the mileage we wanted. Basically, because we have tested at this circuit, we don't need to do so much. We have already sorted out our set ups. Today Ralf had a sensor problem on the gearbox that caused us to decide that it would be better to stop and make sure we correct that this evening."

Jordan

Heinz Harald Frentzen: "I feel at a slight disadvantage since I did not test here last week. There is quite a lot of work to do to squeeze the last couple of tenths or hundreths out of the car and it would have been good to have been able to test here. There is a lot of information we still need to get. For example, we need to see how the balance is on new tyres and we need to work on a qualifying set up. But I felt ok in the car and was not in any pain, so I cannot complain."

Damon Hill: "I was not as competitive today as I was in testing last week. I do not feel so good about the balance so we need to do some work overnight to get back to where we were."

Stewart

Rubens Barrichello: "The conditions are very different and I think everyone is suffering quite a bit. There was a lot of cross wind around today which affected the handling of the car, particularly in the slower sections of the circuit. There were a lot of buffeting at times. I was working on getting the right balance in case we have similar conditions for the rest of the weekend. I'm reasonably happy with the progress we have made and feel confident there is more to come tomorrow in time for qualifying."

Johnny Herbert: "The tyre degradation was severe and the track surface was quite slippery. I had a moment myself during the second session when I damaged a rim. In conditions like these you have to really look after the tyres. You can see from the times some drivers did on new tyres that there is a big difference in performance level. I experienced a bit of understeer turning in and the car was a little twitchy on exit under power. We will concentrate further tomorrow on getting the car balanced. I'm not too close."

Gary Anderson, Technical Director: "We're pretty happy with the work we completed today. There is no doubt that getting the best out of the tyres will be the key to a good race here. Like a lot of the other teams we restricted our running this morning in order to preserve rubber."

Martin Whitaker, Director, Ford Racing, Europe: "We have experienced no problems today During the test last week we introduced some new software to improve the driveability of the engine. This has helped us respond well to the changes in track conditions from the test."

BAR

Jacques Villeneuve: "It was a difficult day. We were running the harder compound tyres today and that gives us problems in setting up the car, like in Montreal. This afternoon we seemed to improve things a little. My spin right at the end of the session was due to an oil breather hose failure."

Ricardo Zonta: "The car was oversteering a lot in the morning and I was pushing it to the limit to try and improve my time. In the afternoon I pushed too hard and spun - my fault. We are continuing to work to improve the balance, and I shall just have to talk to my engineers and hope we can come to a good solution for tomorrow's qualifying."

Craig Pollock, Managing Director: "In spite of Ricardo losing it early on in the afternoon session, we have managed to do quite a lot of useful laps today. Unfortunately there was a failure on Jacques' car which was why he spun off right at the end of the session. I'm happy about the positive atmosphere in the garage, and the will in the team to do well."

Robert Synge, Team Manager: "We are disappointed that our times today did not put us in a better position. However Ricardo's time is not really representative as he only managed a few laps in the afternoon. Jacques did improve his time a little, although this did not ultimately affect his position. Our engineers in Brackley are working hard to address our handling deficiencies and we hope for a more successful day tomorrow."

Prost

Jarno Trulli: "During last week's test here at this circuit, unfortunately, I did not have many opportunities to prepare for this Grand Prix as we had so many problems. So, I wasn't able to work on the set-up for my car really until today and moreover I have a new chassis. I tried many different mechanical and aerodynamic configurations this morning, but we still have not found a good set-up. The car is not very fast in changes of direction and in terms of traction, we are still not at our best."

Olivier Panis: "We prepared a very precise programme for this first day of practice here at Magny-Cours and we have done it all. We have gathered a lot of information about the tyres in relation to different levels of fuel load in preparation for the race. Tomorrow morning, we will work more specifically for the qualifying sessions in search of the best balance of the car and the performance."

Alain Prost: "We can say we are satisfied with today's work. We have done the two sessions of free practice in race configuration on both cars and we have not had any mechanical problems. We lack still some grip and some traction."