By Phil Huff
April 3 2003

The Geoff Willis designed BAR005 may be a big improvement on its predecessors - Jacques says it is by far and away the best car he has driven during his time at BAR - but the jury is still out on whether it can bridge the gap between BAR and the 'big three', and even Renault. Asked by Autosport whether 'you are any nearer knowing where you stand in terms of the opposition after the first two races?', the BAR Technical Director replied: "Yes, a little bit. The trouble with these first three flyaways is they are all very hot, and at the moment the two tyres seem to be behaving quite differently. We've just got to work a bit harder. Certainly we need to be faster, although I think we've got a reasonable amount of speed."

As for that extra speed, Willis predicts that the team will be able to pick up its performance when the F1 circus begins the European leg of the season, starting in Imola later this month.

"I think we'll be looking forward to getting back to slightly cooler conditions in Europe," he told the site. "But it's a good start. We've sorted the reliability of the car out, despite Jacques's problem, and when you've got a good stable platform, with very few mechanical problems, then you can work on speed."

Source: JV-World.com