Jos's comments

Published on 08 March 2003 by Huub Rothengatter

We just spoke with Jos to ask about his experiences in the practices and qualification.

"I went out onto the track in the first free practice but had some problems with the brakes so I returned to the pits and did not set a time."

Jos exits the pitlane to start his qualification

In the second free practice Jos went out with a full tank of fuel. Minardi is hoping that it will start raining and therefor they were driving with a race setup more or less geared towards a wet race. "Our priority is to gather as much data as possible about the car when driving with a lot of fuel onboard. Especially obtaining the missing data about the tyres is very important for us", according to Jos.

Justin Wilson went out with a lot less fuel. This way Minardi was able to compare the data of the 2 cars. This explains why Justin was faster than Jos in the second free practice.

After they analysed the gathered data and keeping an eye on the weather forecast, Minardi decided to make a daring move by using a loophole in the new regulations. "If we don't set a time the cars do not have to go to 'Parc Fermé', this enables our engineers to use this valuable extra time to make some necessary changes."


Nice shot of Jos´s helmet

"I am convinced that the potential and reliability of the PS03 is okay. If we gather more info over the next few weeks it will turn out fine." Jos commented. He had some inside news "When you are able to see the pitwall during the race, you might see a familiar face. Raymond Vermeulen has been given the honours to show me my ptiboard."