21/03/2004

Grand Prix of Malaysia - Race Report

Cristiano da Matta narrowly missed out on Panasonic Toyota Racing's first points of the 2004 Grand Prix season when he finished the Malaysian GP in ninth place. Team-mate Olivier Panis was running just ahead of the Brazilian until the closing stages of the race, when a radio miscommunication brought him into the pits by accident.

To add insult to injury, Panis also collected a Drive Through penalty for speeding in the pit lane while making his unnecessary stop, which relegated him to 12th place in the race's final classification.

Da Matta commented: "Physically Malaysia is a tough race and it's a little frustrating to finish just 6s behind a point after everyone has worked so hard in such temperatures. When you consider that 16 of the 20 cars were classified finishers, in those hot conditions, I think it gives you an idea of the technical excellence and the challenge that everyone faces in F1."

Panis was doubly frustrated and said: "It is annoying when problems like that happen. I was in a good rhythm after having some problems in qualifying yesterday and we clearly had the pace to challenge for points. My quickest race lap was faster than some of those cars that scored points and it is always frustrating to go home empty-handed."

Team Principal Tsutomu Tomita was pleased that under new regulations that place even more emphasis on reliability, Toyota can still boast a 100% finishing record in '04. "Although we just finished outside the points today, we have seen many positive things during the Malaysian Grand Prix. We achieved our second consecutive two-car finish, which underlines the reliability of our TF104s. We also made significant progress compared to the season-opener in Melbourne. If we can keep this momentum and development rate during the course of the season, I think Panasonic Toyota Racing will be in good shape."

Technical Director Chassis, Mike Gascoyne said: "Cristiano made a good start and was up to eighth by Turn 1, but was forced a little wide in Turn 4 and lost positions, while Olivier was tapped from behind and had a quick spin. He recovered well and the radio problem was unfortunate. We should have had both cars in the top 10 today and although we came away without any points, I think we can take heart from a much stronger performance than in Melbourne. The next race, in Bahrain, is unknown territory for all of us, so it will be interesting to see how we compare to the other teams."

The Malaysian Grand Prix produced a 72nd career victory for Michael Schumacher as Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro followed up on its Melbourne victory with another win. A much more closely-fought Malaysian race, however, saw Juan Pablo Montoya finished second for the BMW Williams F1 Team, while Jenson Button scored his first ever podium finish for Lucky Strike BAR Honda. Rubens Barrichello was fourth in the second Ferrari, ahead of Jarno Trulli's Mild Seven Renault F1 Team car and David Coulthard for West McLaren Mercedes.