Disappointing German GP for ToyotaF1


Panis

By Toyota F1 Media
July 29 2004

For the Toyota F1 team the German GP would see one car retirement and the other finish in fourteenth. Da Matta would retire with rear tyre failure while Panis would start his race from the pit lane after stalling on the gird. From there his race was a struggle.

 
German GP Race Round-Up
 
Grand Prix of Germany - Race Round-Up
Sunday 25 July 2004

PanisOlivier Panis (Car 17, Chassis TF104/09B)
Session Classification: 14th, +1 lap (from race winner) Grid: 9th
"I am very disappointed with the problem that I encountered at the start of the race when I stalled on the grid and was forced to start in last place. This year, between Cristiano and me, we have experienced this type of problem on different occasions. Sometimes, drivers make mistakes but because the problem has recurred, we should really check carefully to see if there is a related technical problem. The performance of the car actually looked competitive today and we were able to do some very quick lap times. Now, we need to focus on developing the TF104B further and to make further improvements for the upcoming races."

Da MattaCristiano da Matta (Car 16, Chassis TF104/10B)
Session Classification: DNF, +28 laps (from race winner) Grid: 15th
"My retirement from today's grand prix was pretty sudden, although I had felt an increasing vibration in the rear of the car occasionally during the race. The right-rear tyre suddenly went, but it is difficult to know what caused it to blow until we study the data. My start was okay, but I soon got stuck in traffic which slowed me down quite a bit. On a positive note, the speed of the TF104B seemed quite good in race conditions, and generally I am encouraged by the weekend. I think I showed clearly that on full tanks, when I wasn't being held up that I could set some highly respectable lap times."

Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal
"It was a problematic and extremely disappointing race result for Toyota today, but I think we can take a lot of positive things away after the first race weekend with our revised TF104B car. We had the pace to score some points today, as we can see from setting the fourth fastest lap of the race. Unfortunately, our race was over at the beginning when Olivier stalled on the grid. He then lost a lot of time stuck behind backmarkers and was unable to make up enough positions. Cristiano also had a lot of traffic but was forced to retire with a rear tyre puncture, the exact cause of which we have to ascertain with Michelin. The TF104B showed a really encouraging pace and both drivers set competitive lap times when they had a clear track. All in all, we are disappointed that we could not score the points we deserved, but at the same time we should be pleased with the car's performance at this weekend's German Grand Prix."
 
Driver Classification Chassis Best Lap Gap Laps

Free Practice Session 1
Ricardo Zonta 4th TF104/06 1m16.340s +0.584s 36
Olivier Panis 6th TF104/09B 1m16.484s +0.728s 20
Cristiano da Matta 12th TF104/10B 1m17.111s +1.355s 21

Free Practice Session 2
Ricardo Zonta 10th TF104/06 1m16.200s +1.199s 38
Cristiano da Matta 18th TF104/10B 1m17.300s +2.299s 26
Olivier Panis 19th TF104/09B 1m17.419s +2.418s 23

Free Practice Session 3
Olivier Panis 6th TF104/09B 1m15.882s +0.816s 7
Cristiano da Matta 11th TF104/10B 1m16.457s +1.391s 8

Free Practice Session 4
Cristiano da Matta 10th TF104/10B 1m14.791s +1.115s 19
Olivier Panis 11th TF104/09B 1m14.953s +1.277s 16

Qualifying 1
Olivier Panis 5th TF104/09B 1m13.641s +0.250s 3
Cristiano da Matta 16th TF104/10B 1m15.199s +1.728s 3

Qualifying 2
Olivier Panis 10th TF104/09B 1m14.368s +1.062s 3
Cristiano da Matta 15th TF104/10B 1m15.454s +2.148s 3

Race
Olivier Panis 14th TF104/09B +1 65
Cristiano da Matta DNF TF104/10B +28 38
 

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