Formula 1

Bahrain GP: Toyota race notes

Comments from the Toyota team after the Bahrain Grand Prix Olivier Panis: "It has been a positive weekend for everyone at Toyota. We opted for an aggressive three-stop strategy, which I think was the best for us today. Although it is frustrating ...

Published: Apr 5, 2004, 5:47 PM

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Comments from the Toyota team after the Bahrain Grand Prix

Olivier Panis:

"It has been a positive weekend for everyone at Toyota. We opted for an aggressive three-stop strategy, which I think was the best for us today. Although it is frustrating to finish ninth, we have all worked hard to perform as well as we could. I must say thanks to Michelin, who provided us with some invaluable support and competitive tyres this weekend. We have shown another increase in our overall level of performance and we have to keep putting in our best combined effort to improve on this even more in Imola."

Cristiano da Matta:

"It was a difficult race and quite disappointing after our relatively strong performances in free practice and qualifying this weekend. I suffered from a lack of grip throughout most of the race, which prevented me of making any significant gains. Generally, it was frustrating because I thought we were capable of more than tenth place today. Now, we have to continue to work hard before the European season starts in Imola in three weeks."

Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal:

"Obviously we are not satisfied with the final result in Bahrain today, but we have to admit that with the current performance of the car, we were not in a position to do any better. On the positive side, the engineers, mechanics, the pit stop crew and the drivers did an excellent job, with no mistakes during the entire weekend. I believe we got the most out of our package in Bahrain with the correct choice of Michelin tyre and race strategy. At the next race in Imola, we will have a new aerodynamic package and we are confident we will make a step ahead compared to our current status."

Olivier Panis (Car 17, Chassis TF104/03)
Session Classification: 9th, +1 lap (from race winner)
Grid: 8th

Cristiano da Matta (Car 16, Chassis TF104/02)
Session Classification: 10th, +1 lap (from race winner)
Grid: 9th

-toyota-

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