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Suzuka 2003

12/10/2003

10/10/2003

Toyota 1st Qualifying

Japanese Grand Prix - First Qualifying Report

Panasonic Toyota Racing has finished the first day of qualifying for the final Grand Prix of the season in Japan with Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta in 13th and 14th places respectively.

It is the 30-year-old Brazilian's first experience of Suzuka, which is widely regarded to be one of the most challenging circuits on the F1 schedule, as well as having the longest lap. In the circumstances, Da Matta has got himself acclimatised to the 5.807km track very quickly and his time, 1m32.256s, just 0.35s from his team mate, is a strong effort.

Panis said: "We have not got the TF103 chassis quite to our liking yet. We have tried various different set-ups but it is quite a technical track with a good combination of different corners. I am a little bit short of grip in places and hopefully we can improve tomorrow and try to qualify the car in the top 10."

Da Matta added: "I like the circuit and I think I can find some more time in the first sector of the lap, which includes the fast Esses. There is lap time to be gained, for sure, but to realise it we need to make some improvements to the car and gain a bit of grip. There is no point in pushing too hard and going off."

At the front of the field, Jarno Trulli took advantage of the mileage from Renault's extra two hours of testing to set the quickest time, 1m30.281s, some 0.06s quicker than Ralf Schumacher in the quicker of the two BMW Williams F1 Team cars. Michael Schumacher's Ferrari (1m30.464s) was third fastest, ahead of the West McLaren Mercedes duo, David Coulthard (1m30.482) and championship chaser Kimi Raikkonen (1m30.558s). Fernando Alonso's Renault (1m30.624s) completed the top six.

Suzuka, of course, is Toyota's home race and the team is looking to get a strong result this weekend to finish the season in style. The TF103s have new aerodynamic parts for the Japanese Grand Prix, including new rear and front wings, and a new specification of RVX-03 engine. The team is keen to have productive free practice sessions on Saturday morning prior to the all-important second qualifying session in the afternoon.

Team principal Ove Andersson said: "As our official home race, this is an important Grand Prix for us. There are only six points splitting fifth place in the constructors championship from ninth and, of course, Suzuka brings down the final curtain on the season. There are no more opportunities after this. We have a new specification RVX-03 engine for this race as well as some aerodynamic modifications, so hopefully we can aim at our target which, as always, is to qualify in the front half of the grid and to challenge for points."

Elsewhere, there is added Japanese flavour on track with Takuma Sato replacing Jacques Villeneuve in the Lucky Strike BAR Honda team.

Panasonic Toyota Racing's home grand prix got off to a difficult start at the Suzuka circuit today. Olivier Panis set the 13th fastest time in first qualifying for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, whilst Cristiano da Matta was 14th on his first visit to the technically demanding 5.807-km track.

Olivier Panis - Car Number 20
Session Classification:13th
Lap Time:1m31.908s, +1.627s from pole
Running Order:15th
Chassis:TF103/08
"We worked hard in this morning's practice hour, but we are unfortunately not yet at the competitive level we were at in Indianapolis. We are struggling a bit with the general grip and balance of the car, but I like this circuit a lot, so we will continue to tune the car to be quicker tomorrow. The whole team is giving maximum effort at this final race of the season, and we will do the best we can in front of all the Japanese Toyota fans."

Cristiano da Matta - Car Number 21
Session Classification:14th
Lap Time:1m32.256s, +1.975s from pole
Running Order:13th
Chassis:TF103/07
"I am not really satisfied with the performance we have shown today. We could already see in this morning's practice that the car is not behaving as well around here as we had initially expected it to, so we have to check a few things overnight. It is not the easiest track to learn in just one hour, but it is a fantastic circuit to drive - one of the best I have driven at all season. It is our home race, so I am ready to push for a good result this weekend. I think we will be in better shape tomorrow."

Ange Pasquali - Team Manager
"Not a great qualifying for us today. We are not as competitive as we expected to be and we have to find out why. Both Olivier and Cristiano lost time in different sectors compared to their respective times from the free practice this morning. Obviously, we will have a busy time this evening prior to tomorrow morning's sessions in order to improve our overall performance level. Ultimately, it is tomorrow's qualifying session that forms the grid, so we are still confident for the rest of the weekend."