Toyota F1 2003 European GP Preview


Points in Monaco

By Toyota F1 Media
May 26 2004

The Toyota F1 team moves to the Nurburgring for the European GP after their successful Monaco GP last weekend. The team came away with points from that race. Can they continue this this weekend. With the teams factory just down the road in Cologne this is like their home race.

 
2004 European GP Preview
 
Da MattaCristiano da Matta - Car Number 16

"We are heading to the European Grand Prix on the back of our successful points-scoring Monaco race, but I think it is unlikely that we will be able to repeat that  performance this weekend. The Nürburgring is another maximum downforce, slow-medium speed circuit, which on paper should not suit us, so we simply have to keep pushing to extract the most from our TF104 race car. With our factory just down the road in Cologne, the Nürburgring is effectively a home Grand Prix for Panasonic Toyota Racing, so we will have the additional support of all the team employees watching from the grandstands, which will be very welcome. I just hope we can give them all something to cheer about."

PanisOlivier Panis - Car Number 17

"We don't have much time to reflect on the four championship points that we scored last weekend in Monaco as our thoughts have already turned to the European Grand Prix weekend at the Nürburgring. We had a highly competitive package at this race last year, and I was fastest in two of the practice sessions, but in the end we were unable to turn that performance into
points. I think this weekend's race will be much tougher, but we are working in the right direction and everyone wants to do well at the Nürburgring, a local race to everyone in the team in Cologne."

ZontaRicard Zonta- Car Number 38

"I last raced at the Nürburgring back in 2000 before the recent changes to the first corner, so I will have to learn the new infield section on Friday morning. I don't see that as a big problem and I am looking forward to again assisting the team with tyre selection and car set-up in free practice. Michelin did a very good job for us in Monaco, and I believe we are making small steps ahead in all areas in terms of the car's performance. Because we don't have testing this week, most of the Nürburgring preparations were done at Paul Ricard before the Monaco GP. After our good result at the last race, I hope we can continue that trend in
Nürburgring in front of the team's home crowd, although I think we will again be looking at battling with Jaguar, Sauber and McLaren-Mercedes for the midfield positions."

Tsutomu TomitaTsutomu Tomita - Team Principal

"The four points we scored at Monaco were very good news for the whole Toyota family, fans, and sponsors around the world, but we know that we still need further improvements and developments to catch the teams in front of us. The Nürburgring circuit is not far from our
factory in Cologne and most of our employees will go to the track to support their colleagues. I said prior to the last race that Monaco is not one of the circuits that suit our TF104s, but we demonstrated our reliability and a good performance in the race, setting the eighth and
ninth fastest race laps. With our usual strong motivation, we will keep pushing ourselves at the Nürburgring this weekend."

Weekend in numbers:

8616.77 Number of kilometres completed by the TF104s in race weekends so far in 2004

1748 Number of laps completed by Da Matta, Panis and Zonta in race weekends so far in 2004 (Da Matta 739, Panis 704, Zonta 305)

600 The number of employees working at Cologne-based Toyota Motorsport, who will be visiting the Nürburgring this weekend to cheer on the TF104s

308,863 The number of kilometres that make up the European Grand Prix

60 The number of laps that make up the European Grand Prix

40 The European Grand Prix marks Panasonic Toyota Racing's 40th Grand Prix

32 The number of nationalities comprising the workforce at Panasonic Toyota Racing

7 Position held by Toyota in the championship after the four-point success in Monaco

5,148 Length of the Nürburgring in kilometres

4 Number of championship points scored by Toyota in 2004

2 The number of practice sessions in which Olivier Panis set the fastest time during the 2003 European Grand Prix weekend

1 With its factory just down the road in Cologne, the European GP will be the 1st race of the year to which Toyota team members will not have to fly
 
 

Bookmark or share this story with: