As in Brazil and Australia the polesitter ...
Published on 12 April 1997 by Verstappen Info Page
As in Brazil and Australia the polesitter for Sunday's race is called Jacques Villeneuve. The Canadian set a time of 1m24.473s to outqualify his teammate Frentzen who will start from second place. Olivier Panis again caused a surprise by qualifying third. The fifth place of Rubens Barrichello is also worth mentioning.
Jos was not able to equal his effort from this morning but nevertheless managed a time of 1m28.094s, good enough for a 16th place on the grid. Teammate Mika Salo was a bit slower and will start from a 19th place.
According to Jos the difference with the morning session could be explained by the temperature rise in the afternoon causing the cars to lose grip.
To clear up the engine situation: Tyrrell is not yet using the new Cosworth ED5 engine, this unit will not be available untill the San Marino GP. In stead Jos has some features of the new engine at his disposal from this afternoon on. Mika and Jos made a toss for the use of the modified ED4 engine, Jos was the lucky one.
What was striking in the qualifying session was the poor showing from the McLaren team. Mika Hakkinen could do no better than a 17th place on the grid which means that the Finn will have to start from the 9th row, just behind Jos.
As mentioned before on this page, the Tyrrell has some new aerodynamic features for the Argentine Grand Prix.
For those of you who have difficulties to distinguish the car of Jos from Mika's Tyrrell: Jos has bright yellow stripes on the new wings, Mika has bright red ones on his car.
Jos has a fairly good morning practice under his belt in Buenos Aires. He set a time of 1m27.423s which was good enough for 11th place. Teammate Mika Salo was three tenths of a second slower and managed a 14th quickest time. The list was headed by Heinz Harald Frentzen in the Williams.
We have a complete overview of all times of the Friday and Saturday sessions on our results page.
