24/08/2003

Hungarian Grand Prix - Race

After his TF103 stalled on the starting grid Cristiano da Matta drove a consistent race to salvage an 11th-placed finish in an otherwise troublesome Hungarian Grand Prix for the Panasonic Toyota Racing team at the Hungaroring today. Olivier Panis lost five places at the start of the race and was gradually making his way back through the field before gearbox gremlins forced him to retire during his second scheduled pit stop.

Cristiano da Matta - Car Number 21
Classification:11th + 2 laps (from race winner)
Grid Position:15th
Chassis:TF103/04
"Firstly I want to apologise to the team for stalling on the grid. From 15th I was looking for a good start however I got on the launch button a bit too quickly. I hit the brakes to avoid jumpstarting but there was not enough time for the anti-stall to kick in. The team got me started again in the pitlane but by that point I was over a lap down and I had to really push hard to make up ground. The car's balance was still towards the oversteer side but the overall grip was good so I am naturally disappointed with this result."

Olivier Panis - Car Number 20
Classification:DNF + 37 laps (from race winner)
Grid Position:10th
Chassis:TF103/08
"Understandably we are all a little bit disappointed. I came in for my second stop and when I went to drive away I heard a noise and knew instantly what had happened. Of course these things can happen sometimes but we need to find out exactly what went wrong. The car felt good up to that point and after losing five places at the start I was making good progress through the field. Despite this result we are continuing to head in a good direction so we need to prepare well for the next race in Monza. I am looking forward to the Italian Grand Prix because Monza is a track that should suit our car and I believe we should be in a strong position to pick up points there."

Ove Andersson - Team Principal
"I think we had a quite competitive car for today's Hungarian Grand Prix but unfortunately we were not able to capitalise on this. Cristiano had a problem at the start which effectively ended his race and Olivier was driving a strong race before his gearbox broke. Even without these problems I think it would have been very difficult for us to score points in today's race. The team has worked well throughout this weekend and we are shortly heading for a test in Monza before the Italian Grand Prix in three weeks' time - where I think we can be optimistic for a good points finish."

Weather:Hot and sunny.
T-car:TF103/07 set up for Olivier Panis. Spare Chassis: TF103/02

Weekend at a Glance
Friday practice (dry track)
Panis P1 1m21.770s 25 laps
Da Matta P5 1m22.700s 24 laps

Friday Qualifying (dry track)
Panis P7 1m22.986s (+0.628s)
Da Matta P20 1m55.138s (+32.780s)

Saturday practice 1 (dry track)
Panis P7 1m24.251s 14 laps
Da Matta P15 1m25.545s 16 laps

Saturday practice 2 (dry track)
Panis P10 1m23.789s 17 laps
Da Matta P17 1m24.401s 13 laps

Warm-Up (dry track)
Panis P8 1m23.582s 6 laps
Da Matta P13 1m24.789s 5 laps

Saturday Qualifying (dry track)
Panis P10 1m23.369s (+1.681s)
Da Matta P15 1m23.982s (+2.294s)