01/03/2002

Australian Grand Prix - Free Practice Report

SOLID FOUNDATIONS DOWN UNDER

It was a productive first day of practice for the Panasonic Toyota Racing team in Melbourne. Both TF102 cars ran faultlessly in the wet-dry conditions and drivers Mika Salo and Allan McNish ended up 6th and 16th respectively in the final standings.

Meaningful times were hard to come by in both one-hour sessions thanks to ever-changing track conditions. The first session began wet and steadily dried; the second began dry prior to a mid-session shower. So Panasonic Toyota Racing is keeping Mika's fastest time - a 1:29.601 - in perspective.

"Times don't matter today " says Panasonic Toyota Racing Team Principal Ove Andersson. "What matters is that everything worked and the team ran smoothly. I am very pleased by the way we went about our business today."

Both drivers made relatively few changes to their cars apart from some gear ratios early on. Mika set his fastest time two-thirds of the way through the second session while Allan did not run when the track was at its fastest.

"Because of the greasy track conditions " says Mika "it's difficult to know where we are in the overall scheme of things. I'm surprised that we ended the day so far up the order but the main thing today is that everything ran smoothly for the team. There was not a single mistake."

Allan was the first driver onto the track this morning keen to get on with his exploratory laps of the 5.3-kilometre Albert Park track. "It was a way of calming a few nerves " he says. "As I accelerated down the pitlane I realised that the talking has finally stopped. I've now got to get on with what I'm paid to do."

Meanwhile at the top of the timesheets Ferrari dominated. Reigning world champion Michael Schumacher was quickest in the wet and the dry setting a fastest time of 1:27.276 seconds. He finished the day 0.5-seconds faster than his team-mate Rubens Barrichello. The Sauber of Nick Heidfeld was just ahead of Mika's TF102 to complete the top 6. Full results from the Free Practice sessions are below.

The crucial qualifying session for Sunday's race will take place at Albert Park tomorrow afternoon at 14.00 (GMT+11 hours).