09/05/2004

Grand Prix of Spain - Race Round-Up

Cristiano da Matta (Car 16 Chassis TF104/04)
Session Classification: 13th +1 lap (from race winner)
Grid: 11th
"The car was quite slow in the first two stints so I wasn't really able to make any progress. The performance in the second half of the race was actually a bit better but I lost valuable time whilst being lapped especially when on new tyres. I think had I not had that to contend with that maybe I could have got past Mark Webber. Overall though we were not competitive enough to get a higher result and we have a lot to do before Monaco in two weeks."

Olivier Panis (Car 17 Chassis TF104/03)
Session Classification: DNF + 33 laps (from race winner)
Grid: 7th
"I had quite a good start but realised quickly that there was a problem with the grip level of my car. Coming in for my second pit stop I experienced a pit limiter problem and got a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. We do not know the cause of the problem yet but if it was my mistake I want to apologise to the team. However some laps after that incident I was forced to stop on the track due to the loss of hydraulic pressure which left me without any gearbox functions or power steering. A disappointing end to a race weekend that started off well - but the team is doing a good job and we have to keep pushing to find more speed for the race."

Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal
"The encouraging qualifying on Saturday made us hopeful for the race. Unfortunately we were not able to continue in the same way. On the first set of tyres we had problems with high tyre pressures which meant that the TF104s struggled for speed. Olivier lost some positions because of a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. He then suffered from a hydraulic pressure drop and had to retire. Cristiano did a good job; he was able to finish the race but the lack of pace ended in a disappointing result. We know that we have still a long way to go but we do our best to keep pushing and developing the car."

T-car: TF104/06 (set-up for Olivier Panis)
Spare chassis: TF104/05