17/05/2003

Austrian Grand Prix - Second Qualifying Report

Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta will start the Austrian Grand Prix round six of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship from 11th and 13th places on the grid.

The team endured a difficult opening day when some electronic problems and a basic car imbalance kept the drivers away from the leading positions. The situation improved slightly in time for final qualifying with Da Matta on his first trip to the A1-Ring of course getting some more circuit experience. Panis's 1m10.402s lap compared with the Brazilian's 1m10.834s and was 1.3s behind Michael Schumacher's pole position time.

Panis said: "In the circumstances I don't think I can be too disappointed with 11th on the grid although it is always a little worrying to be in the middle of the pack when you have a corner as tight as Turn 1 is here. The car is not at its best on this track and the team has worked hard to improve it as the weekend has gone on. I think the strategy that we are on is good and we will still be aiming for points."

Da Matta meanwhile explained: "It has been a bit of a struggle from the start but I don't think I could have got much more out of the car today. We are still not where we would like to be with the set-up and will keep at it."

Michael Schumacher claimed his fourth pole position of the season and his third in succession for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro narrowly beating world championship leader Kimi Raikkonen's time (1m09.189s) in the McLaren-Mercedes. Juan-Pablo Montoya (1m09.391s) made it three different chassis in the first three places when he placed the first BMW Williams F1 Team entry next on the grid.

Nick Heidfeld (1m09.725s) equalled the Sauber Petronas team's best qualifying performance of the season when he managed fourth quickest time ahead of Rubens Barrichello (1m09.784) with the second Ferrari and Jarno Trulli (1m09.890s) with the first of the Mild Seven Renault Cars.

Yesterday evening the team played host to a special Formula 1 fan event at its hotel in the small town of Knittelfeld just ten minutes' drive from the A1-Ring. The team's Austrian Chief Designer Gustav Brunner is a bit of a local hero and treated the fans to a 45-minute appearance. Brunner was overwhelmed by the response of the strong crowd: "They are a certainly fanatical. I am impressed by the turnout but it is good to see this level of support for Toyota and we are very happy to return the compliment he said.

All three Toyota drivers, Olivier Panis, Cristiano da Matta and Ricardo Zonta also showed up to sign autographs for the local fans and to answer some questions.

It was good fun said Zonta, but I think they are all a bit crazy. They know more about Formula 1 than we do!"