23/05/2002

Monaco Grand Prix - Free Practice Round-Up

Panasonic Toyota Racing this weekend contests the Monaco Grand Prix the jewel in F1's crown. Round seven of the world championship presents both teams and drivers with unique challenges amid tough working conditions but the team has done a great job to have Allan McNish second fastest and Mika Salo fifth quickest after the opening day of free practice.

Super yachts moored in the harbour alongside the paddock give the race an ambience all its own but even the yachts have to move away from the quayside when the F1 cars are in action. It is unlikely that parts of a Grand Prix car will end up in the Mediterranean but it has happened before so safety is of real importance.

"It's a track I really enjoy " Mika Salo says. "It's very challenging and it's a place where the driver can still make a real difference despite all the electronics we have on the cars these days." Mika in fact has an admirable record in Monte Carlo: in six starts he has finished in the points four times!

Allan McNish however has never raced in Monaco so second fastest time at the end of the opening day's free practice was a fine effort.

"I'm happy " he said. "The car was a bit better than we thought we would here. I got into the rhythm of the circuit quite quickly which was something I didn't really expect. It just started to click and overall it was a good session.

"The strategy was not to do any real development of the car but just to get laps under my belt. We tried a low fuel fresh tyre run at the end but unfortunately it rained lightly and it was a bit hard to make a fair evaluation. I kept very much off the barriers in the first session but in the second session I was a lot closer. It seemed to be reasonably under control but maybe not as much as it looked from the outside!"

Salo ended up fifth fastest overall but was not entirely happy with the car: "There was a small balance problem " he said. "Nothing major although the car understeers all the time and we can't get rid of it. I don't really understand it but we will just have to go through all the data tonight."

McNish actually had the quickest time until 13 minutes before the end of the session when Jarno Trulli went quicker for the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team. Third fastest was David Coulthard for West McLaren Mercedes ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella for DHL Jordan Honda Mika and Ralf Schumacher for BMW Williams F1.

Although it was a highly promising opening day for Panasonic Toyota Racing the team's President Ove Andersson probably spoke the truest words when he said: "Everywhere we go this year is about learning but probably nowhere more than here in Monaco."