By Huw Alban (20/05/03)
May 20 2003

The Toyota Austrian weekend was one of lows and highs, starting with a dismal Friday, an improved Saturday and a mixed Sunday. The TTF1 service is back after a short break in sunnier climes. Friday was a waste for Toyota as the team struggled to overcome setup issues. As a consiquence the Toyota cars could only record the 17th and 18th fastest laps during the single practice session. Things didn't get any better during pre-qualifying, although both drivers did manage to obtain pre-qualifying positions better than that obtained during the practice session.

"I am not really satisfied, to be honest," said Olivier Panis, whole qualified 14th on Friday. "We had a very difficult free practice with set-up problems and we didn't make really any changes to the car during the session. We made some adjustments for qualifying and I think the performance this afternoon was acceptable, but we still have a lot to do ahead of the race qualifying tomorrow. I am not too worried though. I think we can still realistically expect a top ten grid position, which will put us in good shape for the race."

Saturdays practice sessions again saw a small improvement in performance that translated into an 11th and 13th when it mattered the most. Olivier Panis was very glad to have made the most of a bad job. "We have had a difficult weekend and the car simply hasn't been right for this track," he commented after the final qualifying session. "I think I did a good job in qualifying today and it was a respectable lap given the circumstances. Obviously we are not quick enough but the team has worked well to improve the car little by little over the weekend, and I think we are on a good strategy for tomorrow. Starting from 11th is not bad, so we'll see what happens in the race."

Toyota's dramas didn't end there. Two aborted start procedures caused by a launch control fault on Cristiano da Matta's car lead to a faltering start to the Austrian Grand Prix. Once away, both drivers lost places, but a stranded Minardi against the pit wall brought out the safety car and an early pit stop for fuel for Panis. The Frenchman had obviously switched strategy but it was all for nothing as he retired his TF103 at turn 2 on the 6th lap of the race. It later emerged that something had damaged the barge board, suspension and front tyre.

Cristiano da Matta battled on, trying to recover from the embarrasment of causing the aborted start procedures. A small rain shower early in the race resulted in a flurry of pit lane activity, but da Matta held firm and ran as high as 9th. The Brazilian made two stops throughout the race, ending up 11th in the latter stages sandwiched between the two Jordans. A technical problem with Giancarlo Fisichella's car gifted da Matta 10th - his finishing position.

"At the start, I pressed the launch button as I normally do and the car just stalled," Cristiano explained after the race. "There was something wrong with the launch electronics. For the restart and the pit stops, we decided not to risk it and instead did manual starts. I would say that the weekend is below the expectations I had, but considering the difficulties in practice on Friday and Saturday, I think tenth place is more or less the best we could do today. Things were not made easier starting from the back of the grid. The tricky part has come from us not finding a proper set-up on the car for this circuit, so we have to learn from this and make it better for Monaco."