BULLETIN No 2

SATURDAY 02/03/02 - FREE PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Dry, then heavy rain(track 18 deg/air 18deg)

2001 POLE POSITION: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 1m 26.892s

2001 RACE FASTEST LAP: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 1m 28.241s.

SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO (1^st Barrichello/2^nd M. Schumacher)

Technical: No changes to the F2001s since yesterday's practice.

Sporting: Schumacher extremely impressed with Bridgestone rubber's performance and spoiled his fastest lap with a wheel on the kerb. Barrichello delighted with the fourth pole position of his career.

Quotes: Schumacher: "Australia always seems to favour one particular competitor and our advantage this year is knowing so much about our current car."

BMW WILLIAMSF1 TEAM (R. Schumacher 3^rd/Montoya 6^th)

Technical: No changes to the FW24s since yesterday.

Sporting: Schumacher satisfied with the new car's performance while Montoya lost around 0.6sec behind Fisichella on what would have been his quickest lap. Both drivers only managed a single run apiece.

Quotes: Schumacher: "The car felt much better today and we are closer to the Ferraris than we were last year, but we need to get even closer."

WEST McLAREN MERCEDES (Coulthard 4^th/Raikkonen 5^th)

Technical: No changes to the cars since yesterday.

Sporting: Coulthard glanced the wall after being pitched into a spin when Villeneuve didn't see him coming up behind the BAR-Honda on a flying lap. Coulthard restarted and returned to the pits where before resuming with fresh tyres on the car. Later also went out on rain tyres. Raikkonen made slight mistake on his best lap.

Quotes: Coulthard: "If it hadn't been for the rain I think we could have wound up slightly quicker."

MILD SEVEN RENAULT F1 TEAM (Trulli 7^th/Button 11^th)

Technical: B-spec versions of the RS22 engines fitted for today.

Sporting: Trulli lost time on first run behind a Jaguar then went straight out again on new tyres. By then the circuit was getting wet and Webber's Minardi spun in front of him. Button disappointed after posting what was briefly fourth fastest run early in session.

Quotes: Denis Chevrier: "The B-spec engine functioned as expected and we are pleased with our overall position compared to the end of last season."

DHL JORDAN HONDA (Fisichella 8^th/Sato DNQ)

Technical: No changes to the EJ-12s since Saturday.

Sporting: Sato crashed heavily in free practice when in too high a gear for the right-hander concerned, quite badly damaging the chassis. Took spare for qualifying then stopped on circuit with electronic problem affecting gearchange, session being red flagged for car to be removed from circuit. Took over Fisichella's race car only after heavy rain started. Did not lap within 107 per cent cut-off as a result. Fisichella happy with his car.

Quotes:Ian Phillips: "Giancarlo did a great job and Takuma had something of an F1 baptism of fire, unable to get into Giancarlo's car until it was raining."

 SAUBER PETRONAS (Massa 9th/Heidfeld 10th)

Technical: No changes to the cars for today.

Sporting: Massa very happy and reporting that the handling balance felt particularly good. Heidfeld had fuel pressure problems in the morning, but was happy with his C21 for qualifying.

Quotes: Peter Sauber: "After Nick set such a quick time on used tyres during the morning we expected him to be slightly faster thi afternoon."

LUCKY STRIKE BAR HONDA (Panis 12^th/Villeneuve 13^th)

Technical: No changes to car specification overnight.

Sporting: Panis's first run spoiled by red flag, confirming that the new BAR004 feels more stable and rigid than its predecessor. Villeneuve admitted that he expected more power for this race and complained about excessive understeer.

Quotes: Villeneuve: "I think the car's true potential is still to come and it will be better tomorrow."

PANASONIC TOYOTA RACING (Salo 14^th/McNish 16^th)

Technical: No changes to car specification since yesterday.

Sporting: Team mistakenly used one set of Friday marked tyres during Saturday free practice on McNish's car and had one set deducted for qualifying as a penalty, although this had little effect due to the rain. Team satisfied with debut outing to get both cars qualified in the top 20.

Quotes: McNish: "We changed the chassis set-up overnight which improved the car but we still have a lot more to do."

ORANGE ARROWS (Frentzen 15^th/Bernoldi 17^th)

Technical: No changes to A23s overnight.

Sporting: Frentzen only managed a single untroubled run due to a fuel pressure problem while Bernoldi caught the red flag as he started his first flying lap.

Quotes: Mike Coughlan: "We planned to get all our runs completed as soon as possible this afternoon as we knew there was rain on the way."

KL MINARDI ASIATECH (Webber 18^th/Yoong 21^st)

Technical: No changes to car specification overnight

Sporting: Webber delighted to have qualified 18^th on F1 debut in front of home crowd. Minor technical problems during the morning were rectified and after he qualified Webber concentrated on scrubbing in rain tyres for tomorrow. Yoong only managed a single run in the afternoon.

Quotes: Webber: "It was good to outdo the Jaguars, even though they only had one run, but that's part of the game."

JAGUAR RACING (Irvine 19^th/de la Rosa 20^th)

Technical: No changes to car specification today.

Sporting: Irvine reported car balance felt fine but just not quick enough. De la Rosa had steering problems on race chassis during the morning and opted for spare car for qualifying.

Quotes: Niki Lauda: "This is exactly what I expected before we arrived in Melbourne and that is about as honest as anybody can be at this stage."