29/05/2003

Monaco Grand Prix First Qualifying Report

Panasonic Toyota Racing endured a tough opening day of action at this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix as race drivers Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta finished the opening qualifying session in 18th and 19th positions with laps in 1n19.903s and 1m20.374s respectively.

The times mean that the Brazilian and the Frenchman will run second and third in Saturday's all-important final qualifying session which could be a sizeable handicap in Monte Carlo where the circuit picks up more time than many other tracks when more tyre rubber goes down on the racing line as the session progresses.

For Da Matta Thursday in Monte Carlo was always going to be his biggest test of the year. While there are other drivers in the field who have not driven Formula 1 cars in Monaco other rookies like Justin Wilson and Antonio Pizzonia have at least competed in F3000 cars on the streets of the tiny Principality. And both of them together with Jordan Monaco rookie Ralph Firman also had the benefit of the two-hour free practice session. For Da Matta however it was a case of a one-hour session to acclimatise and then straight into qualifying.

"It was very tough he said. Everyone says that there is a lot of time to be found in the driver here and you cannot hope to learn all about Monte Carlo in a single session! Push too hard and you inevitably damage the car so I had to take it a bit easier than usual. I will obviously have some more experience after Saturday morning when we should also have the car closer to where we would like to be. Having said that it was immense fun to drive."

For Panis who scored his lone Grand Prix win at Monte Carlo in 1996 it was also a tough session.

"We have the same lack of grip as we experienced in Austria. I was relatively okay in sector one but then as I went down through the tight section I was lacking grip and I got big oversteer going into Portiers the Frenchman explained. I had to back off the throttle which cost a lot of time because the next section through the tunnel is the fastest part of the circuit. Saturday is obviously going to be difficult but I hope that we can improve the car and that I can drive a trouble-free lap to a more representative time."

At the front of the field it was the Scuderia Marlboro Ferrari cars of Michael Schumacher (1m16.305s) and Rubens Barrichello (1m16.636s) setting the pace both drivers already quicker than last year's pole position time. That is a strong achievement at a circuit that is typically dusty on the opening day and tends to improve by two to three seconds by Saturday afternoon. We have to take into consideration however a slightly revised circuit layout in the Swimming Pool area and at the Rascasse corner the entry to which has been eased.

Third quickest was Jenson Button's Lucky Strike BAR-Honda ahead of Jarno Trulli's Mild Seven Renault F1 entry David Coulthard's West McLaren Mercedes and Ralf Schumacher for the BMW Williams F1 Team.