14/08/2004

Grand Prix of Hungary - Qualifying Report

Panasonic Toyota Racing faces a tough Hungarian Grand Prix after Olivier Panis and Ricardo Zonta qualified 13th and 15th in Budapest as the Formula 1 World Championship season heads into its final third.

The Hungaroring is one of the tightest circuits on the F1 calendar and consequently overtaking is especially difficult in the 70-lap race.

With Michael Schumacher taking pole position with a lap in 1m19.146s Panis managed 1m21.068s while Zonta recorded 1m21.135s.

"I don't know why but the car just did not perform as well on my qualifying lap as it had in morning practice when both myself and Ricardo lapped in 1m20.6s Panis said. The only thing I can think of is that you are prone to a bit of understeer at Hungaroring and changes in the wind can affect you quite a lot. We were both top 10 contenders in the final session of free practice and I think that is our true level."

Zonta meanwhile was having his first experience of Formula 1's one-lap qualifying system having been promoted to the race team from his previous testing role.

"The weather definitely changed between practice and qualifying the Brazilian confirmed, and you really noticed the car sliding around quite a lot more. That made it hard to put the whole lap together. The team has been highly supportive throughout what is my race debut with them and I hope I can repay them by fighting for points in the race."

Behind Schumacher Rubens Barrichello (1m19.323s) made it another 1-2 on the grid for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro with Takuma Sato (1m19.693s) and Jenson Button (1m19.700s) claiming the second row for Lucky Strike BAR Honda. Last year's Hungarian GP winner Fernando Alonso (1m19.996s) was fifth quickest for Mild Seven Renault ahead of Antonio Pizzonia (1m20.170s) who narrowly outqualified his BMW Williams team mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

Technical Director Chassis Mike Gascoyne said: "Everyone is disappointed with our starting positions which don't reflect the performance level we have shown so far this weekend. There was a general lack of grip compared to practice and we have to now hope that the consistency we've seen over longer runs allows us to challenge for points in the race."