21/03/2003

Malaysian Grand Prix - First Qualifying Web Report

The first qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand Prix saw Cristiano da Matta and Olivier Panis in 11th and 14th places respectively for Panasonic Toyota Racing.

Many of the leading drivers recognise that the intense heat and oppressive humidity at Sepang represents the most physically demanding challenge of the season making set-up even more important.

In the circumstances and with just an hour's experience of the demanding 5.543-kilometre circuit behind him Da Matta's 1m36.706s lap just 1.7s from Michael Schumacher's pace-setting Ferrari was an impressive effort.

"First qualifying is always difficult because I don't have a lot of time on the track the 29-year-old Brazilian explained. In fact I only had an hour this morning to learn the Sepang track. I feel that I could still find a little something in my driving but the biggest point for me is that we are missing something on this type of track. I think perhaps we demonstrated more potential in Australia at this stage but having said that I really really like the circuit and I think the car balance was very close to being right."

For Panis it was a different story. The Frenchman and his race engineer elected for a stiffer car set-up than usually run in Malaysia in the search for a better balance but lost out in terms of mechanical grip.

"There was just no grip at all and the car was sliding everywhere Panis said. That was our biggest problem today even in the free practice session this morning. I think we need to take a very close look at the set-up overnight and change our philosophy for tomorrow. I remain confident though as I am sure there is a lot left to play with before we begin second qualifying."

Chief designer Gustav Brunner confirmed: "Neither car performed very well today although we had slightly more difficulties on Olivier's car. I think we went a little too stiff and the car was jumping around on the bumps and giving too much oversteer. We still have a lot to do in Saturday morning's practice before final qualifying but at least we have time. More work for the boys!"

Despite running fourth in the single-lap session when track conditions were not as favourable as later on five times world champion Michael Schumacher still managed to set the pace for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Schumacher's 1m34.980s session best was fully 0.7s clear of team-mate Rubens Barrichello and 0.95s quicker than Juan Pablo Montoya's BMW Williams F1 Team entry. Kimi Raikkonen (1m36.038) was fourth quickest ahead of West McLaren Mercedes team mate and Melbourne winner David Coulthard (1m36.297s) while Renault's Jarno Trulli completed the top six with a lap in 1m36.301s.

Nobody fell foul of the single lap format out on the circuit but Jaguar Racing's Antonio Pizzonia failed to get in a lap when his engine refused to fire up. With track temperatures approaching 50 degrees centigrade at times all teams face another two-day ordeal in the heat.