14/04/2002

San Marino Grand Prix - Race Round-Up

The San Marino Grand Prix brought disappointment for Pansonic Toyota Racing as mechanical problems prevented the team seeing the chequered flag for the first time this season.

Practice showed that the TF102 chassis and Michelin tyre combination was much better in dry conditions than on a wet track and it was good news when predicted rain failed to appear. Unfortunately though Allan McNish did not get a chance to capitalise on a promising qualifying performance which saw him line-up just 0.003s behind team mate Mika Salo. At the start his TF102 went nowhere.

"As soon as the lights went off I lost drive for some reason and I was fortunate that nobody hit me up the back " McNish said. "I had no choice but to pull off at the side of the track. But we've had fantastic reliability right from the start of the project back in 2001 and so in reality I think we are certainly above average on that score no question about it. It's just unfortunate that the problem happened right at the start today and robbed me of any chance to race.

"I think I'm due for a bit better luck! Qualifying went quite well and we're heading straight for a test at Mugello next week. We have never experienced anything like this in any of our testing either last year or this season. There has been no trouble from the engine gearbox or electronics so I hope and expect that this is a one-off."

Mika Salo came round 14th on lap 1 but any hopes of making progress through the field were destroyed when he lost fourth gear after 26 laps.

"It's been a difficult weekend from start to finish " Salo admitted "but on the positive side I think it will emphasise again just how hard we have to work if we want to make progress towards the front. Grand Prix racing is a very competitive sport and circumstances are not always going to be kind to us.

"We had some handling problems here and we needed more grip. The Michelins are very good but we need to make our car work more efficiently on them. It's my first retirement this year and my first mechanical problem. I was having a difficult time because at Imola you need to use all of the kerbs to achieve a good lap time and our car could not ride the kerbs so well this weekend."

The race produced a dominant 1-2 for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro in front of the passionate 'tifosi' -- the team's army of loyal supporters -- who let off firecrackers and blew horns in characteristic manner.

Michael Schumacher led away from pole position and retained his advantage throughout to score his third win of the season 18 seconds ahead of Rubens Barrichello.

Ralf Schumacher headed Barrichello as far as the first pit stops and was less than 2s behind with the first of the Williams-BMWs. Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth 24.9s adrift with Jenson Button scoring another two points for Renault. David Coulthard was a lapped sixth for West McLaren Mercedes as team mate Kimi Raikkonen retired with a mechanical problem.