04/04/2004

Grand Prix of Bahrain - Race Report

For the second race in succession the Panasonic Toyota Racing team narrowly missed out on its first points of the season when drivers Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta finished ninth and 10th in the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix.

Panis and Da Matta had qualified eighth and ninth respectively as the team opted for a relatively light fuel load and a short first stint. Panis retained his grid slot and came by eighth at the end of the first lap. Da Matta however lost four places on the opening lap. When the cars had sorted themselves out after the first round of pit stops the TF104 drivers were 11th and 12th respectively and pushed hard throughout the rest of the race.

Olivier made his first stop after 6 of the 57 laps but ultimately lost a position to Mark Webber's Jaguar which pitted three laps later.

Panis said: "It's frustrating to give 100% all afternoon and just miss out on the points by less than two second. It's pretty incredible that on a new circuit which is very technical and slippery off-line no fewer than 17 of the 20 cars were classified finishers. I think that says a lot for the level of F1 today. It goes without saying we will keep pushing to the maximum for the next race in Imola but all in all I think we can take many positive things away from Bahrain."

While Panis pitted on laps 6 20 and 37 the team had Da Matta on a similar strategy the Brazilian stopping one lap later each time. Ultimately he finished 10th and 12 seconds behind his team mate.

"I got slightly off-line going into Turn 4 and ran a little wide which lost me four positions Da Matta explained. After that I did everything I could but we were just lacking a little bit of pace which we will work hard to improve for the start of the European season in Imola in three weeks."

Michael Schumacher scored his third 2004 success as Rubens Barrichello followed him across the line to record Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro's second 1-2 result of the season. Jenson Button recorded his second consecutive podium finish for Lucky Strike BAR Honda with team mate Takuma Sato finishing fifth the pair split by Jarno Trulli's Mild Seven Renault. Fernando Alonso was sixth in the second Renault with the final points claimed by Ralf Schumacher's BMW Williams and Mark Webber's Jaguar Racing entry.

Panasonic Toyota Racing's Technical Director Chassis Mike Gascoyne said: "As one of only four teams who can still boast a 100% finishing record in 2004 it is frustrating not to have scored any points but I'm confident that it will not be long. Congratulations to the whole team - both here at the track and back in Cologne - for a competitive weekend in Bahrain. It is all part of the process of making our way up to the front. We had a very aggressive strategy with worked well on the first stop. In addition to the reliability of the cars the tyres were also very consistent and I think we made the right choice in terms of strategy. I believe we extracted the maximum from the package we had here in Bahrain and as we move forward we can draw a lot of positives from this weekend. In Imola we will have a lot of improvements and I am sure that will see us make our way into the points."