27/06/2003

European Grand Prix - Friday Qualifying Report

Typically changeable weather in Germany's Eifel region spelled bad luck for Panasonic Toyota Racing in the first qualifying session for Sunday's European Grand Prix at Nürburgring round 9 of the F1 World Championship. Untimely rain meant that Olivier Panis (1m57.327) and Cristiano da Matta (no time) finished up in 17th and 19th positions.

The day started well with Panis topping the morning practice session with a lap in 1m31.197s as the team conducted qualifying preparations. That was 0.02s quicker than Jaguar Racing's Mark Webber who had the benefit of two hours prior testing.

The running sequence for the first session is championship order with Da Matta and Panis therefore scheduled to qualify 13th and 15th of the 20 cars. Thirty-five minutes into the session just before the Brazilian was due on the circuit threatening black clouds turned the 5.14km into a swimming pool.

Da Matta who went out before an FIA directive permitting the use of 'extreme' wet weather tyres ran on slick tyres and spun in the treacherous wet conditions and decided to abort his lap.

"When the decision was taken to change the qualifying regulations to a one-lap shoot-out it was obvious that changeable conditions would be a consideration at some races Da Matta said. You can be lucky or you can be unfortunate. Sadly for us today it was the latter. The initial part of the track was actually quite dry but then I suddenly picked up a part of the track that was really wet and it was impossible to drive so we decided it was safer to abort the lap. Aside from some understeer we had quite a good session ealier. I reacquainted myself with the Nrburgring quickly and I think that was reflected in my 9th position."

For Panis it was a similar story. Small consolation was that after a red flag for Villeneuve's incident the FIA had approved the use of extreme wets and so there was at least some grip for the Frenchman. Considering that the first dozen cars ran on a dry circuit however he was not in a position to offer a challenge.

"There's nothing much to say because you just have to shrug your shoulders and accept it when things like that happen Panis said. I want to remain optimistic though. We were very competitive this morning and everybody in the team did a fabulous job to make us fastest of all. I really hope we can do that again tomorrow especially in front of our employees who are watching from the grandstands."

Of those who qualified on a completely dry circuit Kimi Raikkonen topped the session for McLaren-Mercedes with a lap in 1m29.989s some 0.37s quicker than Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team leader Michael Schumacher. The BMW Williams F1 Team drivers Juan Pablo Montoya (1m30.378s) and Ralf Schumacher (1m30.522s) were third and fourth ahead of Rubens Barrichello (1m30.842s) with the second Ferrari and David Coulthard (1m30.903s) in the second McLaren.

"This is racing and these things happen said team principal Ove Andersson. We will be running early in the important Saturday session and if we had a repeat of today that would actually work in our favour. We had both cars in the top 10 in the morning session so we can be cautiously optimistic even if I have been in this business too long to make predictions!"

It was particularly encouraging to see support in the grandstand today from Toyota Motorsport employees who travelled the short distance from Cologne to catch the atmosphere of an F1 race. As a reward they got to see their team at the top the timesheets in free practice for Panasonic Toyota Racing's home grand prix the first P1 in a race weekend since Saturday practice in Brazil this year. Braving the rain only highlighted the dedication of the entire workforce with onlookers in grandstand 15 displaying a sea of red and white caps flags and of course umbrellas!