28/09/2003

United States Grand Prix - Race Report

The United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis promised much for the Panasonic Toyota Racing team after Olivier Panis's superb third place in qualifying - a personal best for the team in its short 32-race F1 history and equal to the Frenchman's own personal best - however mixed weather conditions and misfortune undid all the hard work and the team came away empty-handed.

The race was shaped by rain after the first five laps. The team knew that persistent rain was expected and so it took the decision to call in both Panis and Cristiano da Matta for wet weather tyres. Unfortunately the heaviest downpour did not come for another 15 laps by which time Panis and Da Matta had both returned to switch back onto dry tyres effectively killing the strong chance the team had to score meaningful points.

Panis's race was not helped by the fact that he did not change to wet traction control settings after the first pit stop. Ultimately he spun off in Turn 7 after 27 laps.

"When things go wrong they really go wrong!" he shrugged. "It is especially upsetting after our great performance in qualifying. A lot of people suspected that we were running with a light fuel load but in fact the original strategy was not to stop until lap 19. If the race had been dry throughout we would have been in very good shape. I also had a coming-together with David Coulthard and I needed to pit yet again to have the nose cone changed."

The pit stop strategy on Da Matta's car mirrored that of Panis except one lap earlier each time and the Brazilian also suffered a further unscheduled stop for a Drive Through penalty as a result of speeding in the pit lane.

"The race went wrong from the very beginning explained Da Matta, and it was the same story as Hungary - once you are a lap down there is nothing that you can do. Races like that mean that everyone gets into a lot of trouble but it also means opportunities. We simply didn't get it right today. We had the pace to score good points."

Michael Schumacher won again for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro and moved very close to sealing his record sixth world championship title. He is champion unless Kimi Raikkonen wins in Japan and his Ferrari fails to finish in the top eight. Raikkonen finished second ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Sauber Petronas. Jarno Trulli was fourth for the Mild Seven Renault team ahead of Nick Heidfeld in the second Sauber Juan Pablo Montoya's BMW Williams Giancarlo Fisichella's Jordan Ford and Justin Wilson's Jaguar.

The result means that the battle for fifth place in the constructors championship is tighter than ever. Sauber's strong result has elevated the Swiss team into that fifth position on 19 points one ahead of Lucky Strike BAR Honda and Jaguar Racing. The Panasonic Toyota Racing team has 14 points and Jordan Ford is on 13. With only six points separating five teams the championship battle is set for a showdown at the next race in Japan - Toyota's home grand prix.

Team manager Ange Pasquali said: "Some people might regard what we did today as a gamble perhaps even wondering why we did not split the strategy but you can only operate on the information you have available. We were expecting heavier rain and wanted to try to optimise the situation for both drivers. If things work out you look like a hero if not you look the opposite. Today was not our day. We can only go away and focus on a strong performance at our home race in Suzuka in a fortnight."