25/09/2004

Grand Prix of China - Qualifying Report

Olivier Panis gave Panasonic Toyota Racing high expectations of points in the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix when he qualified eighth at Shanghai with a lap in 1m34.975s. Panis's time was within a second of Rubens Barrichello's Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro pole position benchmark and it is the third time in five races that the Frenchman has qualified the revised Toyota TF104B in the top 10.

"This is a first class new circuit Panis said, and one on which the teams who normally have vast data banks of prior experience to call upon are actually on a level playing field. We have performed well all meeting although I did have a corner entry oversteer problem to contend with after free practice this morning. I sat down with my engineers we checked the data and the alterations we made to the car had the desired result. I'm looking forward to a strong race."

Team mate Ricardo Zonta by contrast was disappointed with 13th place on the grid after a lap in 1m35.410s. The Brazilian had gone almost a full second quicker than that in morning practice and has been competitive all weekend.

"The grip level was lower in qualifying and I made a small mistake and locked up the brakes at the hairpin so my final sector cost me quite a bit of time he admitted. The fact that we have been strong in the practice sessions still leaves me hopeful for the race but I have made the task a bit harder and will be looking to make progress in the early stages."

Barrichello did not face the expected challenge from team mate Michael Schumacher the seven times champion spinning in Turn 1 and sentencing himself to a race from the back of the grid.

Kimi Raikkonen (1m34.178s) finished the session second quickest for West McLaren Mercedes ahead of Jenson Button's BAR Honda (1m34.295s) Felipe Massa's Sauber Petronas (1m34.759s) the BMW Williams F1 entry of F1 returnee Ralf Schumacher (1m34.891s) and the Mild Seven Renault F1 entry of Fernando Alonso (1m34.917s).

Technical Director Chassis Mike Gascoyne said: "Olivier did a really strong job after struggling with varying grip levels in qualifying and we know that Ricardo could also have qualified in the top 10 so overall considering our consistent longer runs in practice I think we can be optimistic about the race."