27/08/2004

Grand Prix of Belgium - Free Practice Report

After a year's absence Formula 1 returned to the majestic Spa-Francorchamps circuit a favourite of most drivers for round 14 of the 2004 World Championship. The daunting Eau Rouge corner is one of the most challenging on any racing circuit and it was here that Panasonic Toyota Racing's test driver Ryan Briscoe had a spectacular accident in the second session of free practice.

The shunt was caused by a punctured tyre and Briscoe spun into the barrier removing the left-side wheels. He was able to get out of the car himself and then underwent an examination at the circuit medical centre. No ill effects were discovered but the 23-year-old Australian has been taken to hospital in Liege for precautionary checks to a bruised arm.

Race drivers Olivier Panis (1m46.528s) and Ricardo Zonta (1m46.902s) finished the first day of free practice in 14th and 15th positions respectively. With Toyota working solely on race preparations the times are fairly unrepresentative.

"I absolutely love this circuit Panis said. It is what you call a proper racing track and the car felt pretty good. Knowing that tomorrow's weather is liable to be worse we had a lot to fit into two sessions."

Zonta meanwhile echoed Panis's comments about the weather and the importance of concentrating on race preparations.

Fastest time of the day was set by Kimi Raikkonen (1m44.701s) for West McLaren Mercedes with Jenson Button's Lucky Strike BAR Honda second quickest on 1m45.015s. Michael Schumacher who can wrap up a seventh world title in Belgium was third quickest in 1m45.137s ahead of BAR tester Anthony Davidson (1m45.437s). Takuma Sato (1m45.451s) made it three BARs in the first five with David Coulthard's McLaren-Mercedes (1m45.507s) completing the top six.

Explaining Briscoe's accident Technical Director Chassis Mike Gascoyne said: "The tyre actually punctured on the straight way before the corner and Ryan spun which is why he hit the wall on the right. We can see clearly from the data that he probably picked up some debris at the Bus Stop chicane and the tyre deflated quite a bit as he came down the hill towards Eau Rouge. Overall it was an eventful first day for Panasonic Toyota Racing. Most importantly Ryan is fine following his accident. We had no problems on the other two cars and we were able to make the tyre choice very early. After that we concentrated on getting a good set-up for the race on Sunday. We are very pleased with the work carried out and we are confident for the weekend. We just have to see what the weather will do."