19/03/2004

Grand Prix of Malaysia - Free Practice Report

The Panasonic Toyota Racing team has started the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend with strong midfield times around the challenging 5.543km Sepang circuit.

Olivier Panis finished the first day of free practice with the 12th fastest time (1m35.524s) while third driver Ricardo Zonta was 13th (1m35.850s) and Cristiano da Matta 19th (1m36.907s) after a spin at Turn 14 restricted him to just seven laps in the second session when conditions were at their best.

Panis said: "I concentrated on doing a tyre comparison because at this circuit in particular the tyres will play a crucial role. We saw track temperatures of 53 degrees at the start of the second session and heat like that is never replicated during winter testing in Europe. You have to make the most of your track time in Malaysia."

Da Matta explained: "Unfortunately I had a spin at Turn 14 and although the team got the car back we couldn't clean it out in time. Overall though we look to be in better shape than we were in Melbourne so I am looking forward to completing more laps in tomorrow morning's practice sessions."

Ricardo Zonta completed an impressive 48 laps across both practice sessions and was comfortably the quickest of the Friday third drivers on the circuit. The Brazilian said: "It was a pretty good day. I completed my programme of tyre comparisons and then also did a long run. I set an encouraging lap time despite losing half-a-second on my best run - so I could have been even faster."

At the front of the field it was 2003 Malaysia winner Kimi Raikkonen who set the first day pace for West McLaren Mercedes with a lap in 1m34.395s. Ralf Schumacher was 0.29s slower in the first of the BMW Williams F1 Team cars with Jaguar Racing's Mark Webber third quickest on 1m35.054s. Michael Schumacher who set the pace in the morning session ended the day fourth fastest on 1m35.094s Juan Montoya (1m35.100s) was fifth in the second BMW Williams with Jarno Trulli (1m35.115s) completing the top six in the first of the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team cars.

Panasonic Toyota Racing's Technical Director Chassis Mike Gascoyne was highly satisfied with the team's progress. "Obviously tomorrow is the important day but I think we are right in the middle of the pack and the changes we have made since Melbourne have had a good effect. We didn't panic we just concentrated on doing the right things. We have some new aero parts on the car and we have saved some weight. We expected to be stronger here with the tyres working a bit better but even so we are much closer to the pack in front of us. I'm very pleased. The team has done an excellent and focussed job."