Another disappointing result for Toyota F1


Da Matta

By Toyota F1 Media
July 13 2004

The British GP would see another disappointing result for the Toyota F1 team with Da Matta finishing 13th and Panis retiring. Panis's retirement was caused by his fire extinguisher exploding in his car making it impossible for him to continue.

 
British GP Race Round-Up
 
Grand Prix of Great Britain - Race Round-Up
Sunday 11 July 2004

PanisOlivier Panis (Car 17, Chassis TF104/03, T-car TF104/07)
Session Classification: DNF, + 44 laps (from race winner) Grid: 17th
"Starting from 17th on the grid, it was never going to be easy today, but the race finished far too early for me when my fire extinguisher exploded in the car just after my first scheduled pit stop. The spray went everywhere, on the steering wheel and on my visor, which meant I couldn't see anything and I ended up in the gravel. A bad end to a difficult weekend, but I am looking forward to trying the TF104B, the car with which we will race in Hockenheim in two weeks' time."

Da MattaCristiano da Matta (Car 16, Chassis TF104/04)
Session Classification: 13th, + 1 lap (from race winner) Grid: 12th
"In the circumstances, I think I drove a good race, but obviously I am not pleased with my eventual 13th place. I got held up a lot just before the safety car period, which cost me around ten seconds and we then lost ground because the three-stopping cars were able to use the safety car to their advantage. These things conspired against me and I subsequently dropped one lap from Gene and Sato with whom I was fighting. With our revised car, I hope we will not have to endure a race affected by blue flags, as has been the case far too often this season."

Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal
"A difficult race for Olivier. He was the only Michelin runner to run with the softer of the two compounds, something we decided as a team after the inconclusive results from Friday practice. However, they simply didn't perform in his first stint, which prevented him from making up the positions he had to. After his second stop, the fire extinguisher went off and he had to retire. Cristiano had a much more positive race and could have fought with some of the cars running a three-stop strategy. He lost time stuck behind some backmarkers, which under the safety car resulted in him losing one lap against those cars with whom he should have been racing. We now look ahead to Hockenheim where we have our revised TF104B car for the first time. The German Grand Prix will be a bit of a test session for us, as we are not running most parts prior to the race, but we are confident that we can overcome our recent troubles and make steady progress up the grid."
 
Driver Classification Chassis Best Lap Gap Laps

Free Practice Session 1
Ricardo Zonta 11th TF104/07 1m21.095s +1.957s 27
Cristiano da Matta 18th TF104/04 1m22.466s +3.328s 16
Olivier Panis 19th TF104/03 1m22.520s +3.382s 15

Free Practice Session 2
Ricardo Zonta 13th TF104/07 1m20.095s +1.440s 35
Olivier Panis 14th TF104/03 1m20.489s +1.834s 25
Cristiano da Matta 15th TF104/04 1m20.829s +2.174s 19

Free Practice Session 3
Cristiano da Matta 13th TF104/04 1m21.017s +1.702s 11
Olivier Panis 15th TF104/03 1m21.416s +2.101s 15

Free Practice Session 4
Cristiano da Matta 11th TF104/04 1m20.183s +1.903s 19
Olivier Panis 14th TF104/03 1m20.531s +2.251s 16

Qualifying 1
Olivier Panis 3rd TF104/03 1m19.697s +0.825s 3
Cristiano da Matta 8th TF104/04 1m22.507s +3.635s 3

Qualifying 2
Olivier Panis 12th TF104/03 1m20.335s +2.102s 3
Cristiano da Matta 14th TF104/04 1m20.545s +2.312s 3

Race
Cristiano da Matta 13th TF104/04 +1 lap 59
Olivier Panis DNF TF104/03 +44 laps 16
 

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