13/08/2004

Grand Prix of Hungary - Free Practice Report

Panasonic Toyota Racing is looking forward to a competitive Hungarian Grand Prix after Olivier Panis was fifth fastest on the opening day of free practice for the 13th round of this year's F1 World Championship in Budapest.

The 4.381km Hungaroring circuit is one of the tightest on the F1 schedule and along with Monte Carlo a venue where the F1 teams run their cars in maximum downforce configuration.

Panis was competitive throughout the opening day and ultimately recorded a lap in 1m21.352s just half a second down on Kimi Raikkonen's pace-setting best for West McLaren Mercedes.

"The car felt really good the Frenchman said, we were competitive at all stages of the day on used and new tyres and my best time was set with a representative fuel load so I am optimistic that we can show the true potential of the TF104B in Hungary."

Since Hockenheim three weeks ago the team has taken the decision to replace Cristiano da Matta with test driver Ricardo Zonta for the remainder of the season with Australian test driver Ryan Briscoe taking over Zonta's third car role on Fridays.

Zonta finished Friday practice in 18th position on 1m22.808s while Briscoe was 21st on 1m23.170s. Neither time was representative however.

"I made a mistake on a hot lap with new tyres Zonta admitted, and so I know where the extra time is. Of course as one of the race drivers you have to think more about conserving your engine and tyres but the upside is that I get to run again tomorrow! I am looking forward to the opportunity to continue the momentum through a complete race weekend."

Briscoe explained: "I had a water leak on my car which meant that I did my two longer runs but I didn't do my last two scheduled runs on new tyres which would have produced a quicker time. Overall it has been fantastic to be part of the race team and I think it has been an encouraging day for me."

Behind Raikkonen Michael Schumacher (1m21.009s) was second quickest for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya (1m21.185s) with the first of the BMW Williams F1 Team cars. David Coulthard (1m21.203s) was fourth fastest aboard the second McLaren with Panis and the Lucky Strike BAR Honda of Takuma Sato completing the top six.

"It was a good solid day said Technical Director Chassis Mike Gascoyne. Olivier had no problems and the competitiveness looks really good. We will probably see more of the car's potential in Hungary. We are always at maximum downforce here and the fact that our maximum is now significantly higher should be a significant benefit."