23/04/2004

Grand Prix of San Marino - Free Practice Report

Panasonic Toyota Racing has finished the opening day of the first European race of the 2004 Grand Prix season with drivers Olivier Panis (1m22.768s) Cristiano da Matta (1m22.780s) and Ricardo Zonta (1m23.161s) in 13th 14th and 16th places respectively in the aggregated free practice classification.

The team came to Imola with a number of changes to its TF104 chassis encompassing aerodynamic modifications weight saving and a lower centre of gravity.

Olivier Panis said: "Imola has not been a happy hunting ground for us in the past but I think we have made progress and that was a generally productive first day. We have to look more carefully at the data before making our tyre choice but we are heading in the right direction."

Da Matta added: "The most significant benefit of the changes we have made to the car is that it is now easier to set-up which is always a plus especially when you do not have a lot of practice time."

Zonta's second practice session was interrupted by a transmission problem 15 minutes before the end.
"The back of the car locked up and I was forced to stop the Brazilian explained.

Setting the opening day pace was Michael Schumacher's Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro car with a 1m20.084s lap set in the first session when track conditions were generally acknowledged to be slower. The two Lucky Strike BAR Hondas of Jenson Button (1m20.966s) and Takuma Sato (1m21.159s) were second and third fastest, ahead of Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari time (1m21.443s), also from the first session. Kimi Raikkonen (1m21.586s) was fifth quickest in his West McLaren Mercedes with Jarno Trulli (1m21.604s) sixth fastest on home ground with the first of the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team cars.

Mike Gascoyne, Technical Director Chassis, said that Panasonic Toyota Racing's first day at Imola had been encouraging.
Basically achieving a quick lap time here involves going over the kerbs which is an area in which we have struggled in the past but the TF104 now handles it better he explained. What we have noticed is that the tyre choice is less clear-cut here than at the other tracks we have been to so far so we are going to take a close look at the data before making our final selection."

This year's Imola race marks the 10th anniversary of the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at the corresponding race in 1994.
"I always have mixed feelings about coming to Imola because of that incident Panis said, and I'm sure their memory will be especially strong this weekend."