02/04/2004

Grand Prix of Bahrain - Free Practice Report

Round 3 of the Formula 1 World Championship takes the teams and drivers into uncharted territory as they have their first experience of the new 5.417km Bahrain circuit. It is the first time that the Middle East has played host to Grand Prix racing.

Although ambient temperatures are not quite as hot as in Malaysia the track surface is darker retains a greater degree of heat and so track temperatures are again over 50 degrees centigrade and on a par with Sepang.

Sand and dust will also be factors that could hurt reliability. Many teams are using more layered engine filters and taking precautions to ensure that dust does not get into the car and cause damage to such things as drive shafts steering racks and even dampers.

The opening day of practice has produced satisfactory results for Panasonic Toyota Racing with test driver Ricardo Zonta 10th quickest (1m32.335s) Cristiano da Matta 14th (1m32.761s) and Olivier Panis 16th (1m33.049s).

It is not unexpected to find test driver Zonta quicker than the team's race drivers because while Da Matta and Panis run reduced engine revs on Friday in order to conserve their engines for the race the Brazilian does not. He also has twice as many tyres available to him.

Zonta said: "I think we did a good job choosing the best tyre for here. The track is very nice - quite interesting with some good changes of direction and gradient. I think we found a good balance for the car on longer runs and once again our reliability was good."

Da Matta added: "I think we are in similar shape to Malaysia so the target should be the same to score points. The track is quite difficult because there is little margin for error. If you go off line there is a lot of dirt and dust. You go from quite a lot of grip to absolutely zero grip."

Olivier Panis said: "It is always interesting to drive on a new circuit and I think that they have done a very good job. I'm sure everyone will improve their times tomorrow because the circuit will get quicker and we will also improve the cars."

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver Rubens Barrichello topped the times with a lap in 1m31.450s ahead of BMW Williams F1 Team driver Juan Pablo Montoya (1m31.451s). Lucky Strike BAR Honda third driver Anthony Davidson set the third fastest time (1m31.488s) at the end of the session when circuit conditions were at their best. World champion Michael Schumacher (1m31.732s) was fourth quickest ahead of Jaguar Racing driver Christian Klien (1m31.789s) and Ralf Schumacher (1m31.842s).

Team technical director Mike Gascoyne summed up the opening day: "It was interesting from our point of view. I think the tyre choice is fairly clear from all three drivers and it was a good session. We are looking more competitive than we might have expected here."

Finally it is worth noting that a Toyota driver is now in the F1 history books as the first driver to set an official lap time at the Bahrain International Circuit after Ricardo Zonta completed the first full lap in first practice this morning.