Formula 1
Chinese GP: Toyota preview
Comments from the Toyota team ahead ofthe Chinese Grand Prix Ricardo Zonta - Race Driver, Car Number 16 "I am really looking forward to the Chinese Grand Prix. As a driver, it is always enjoyable to visit new tracks, and it is important to have ...
Published: Sep 21, 2004, 7:44 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Comments from the Toyota team ahead ofthe Chinese Grand Prix
Ricardo Zonta - Race Driver, Car Number 16
"I am really looking forward to the Chinese Grand Prix. As a driver, it is always enjoyable to visit new tracks, and it is important to have China on the Formula One calendar. Because it is a new track, it is impossible to predict how Panasonic Toyota Racing will get on this weekend, although we will have a much better idea after free practice on Friday."
"During the first hour of free practice, the most important thing is to get to know the circuit and to find the limit both of the track and of the car. Judging from the circuit map, the track looks very slow. But you have to drive it before judging whether or not it is going to be fun."
Olivier Panis - Race Driver, Car Number 17
"I am very happy to be going to China. New races are always exciting, and so much will be different this time with a new country and culture to experience. Everyone in the business world looks to China and Shanghai is now one of the big business centres with a huge population. So it is good both for the image of Formula 1 to race there and for the Chinese to have such a high technology event."
"Before the weekend itself I'll go round the circuit with my engineer. Then I'll spend the first session on Friday just learning the track without playing about too much with the set-up. You have to find your own speed before you change something. But I'm looking forward to it because the circuit design looks really nice, but also challenging for the driver."
Ryan Briscoe - Third Driver, Car Number 38
"My work on Friday will be even more important than usual at the Chinese Grand Prix. The team will be looking for every extra little bit of detail that we can pick up. The tyre comparison will be more difficult than usual and we will not be 100 percent sure about set-up, so we might vary the set-ups on the cars to see what is best."
"Of course, the new circuit will be very slippery to begin with and it will improve a lot over the weekend, so we have to keep that in mind as well and see how much of the Friday data will be reliable for the race. Like everyone, I am looking forward to seeing China and I hope to get out and see Shanghai because everyone says it's quite spectacular."
Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal
"China is an extremely important market for Toyota, one in which we are continuously expanding and I hope that our participation in this weekend's grand prix will be fruitful to our growth. It will give us the opportunity to demonstrate what Toyota is about as we look to increase our sales to the valued Chinese customers."
"Like all other F1 teams, this will be Panasonic Toyota Racing's first opportunity to visit the Shanghai International Circuit. We have no prior experience to draw on and no track data, which places more of an emphasis on Friday's practice sessions to optimise the car set-up. Quick, but efficient work will be critical, but I have complete faith in the abilities of our team and drivers to get the best performance out of our TF104B car this weekend."
-toyota-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Gillan describes a lap of Shanghai
Next article BAR interview with Sato
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Ryan Briscoe
The voices in Mick Schumacher’s head for the Indy 500
IndyCar
IndyCar
110th Running of the Indianapolis 500
The voices in Mick Schumacher’s head for the Indy 500
Mick Schumacher found the limit “pretty early” in maiden oval test
IndyCar
IndyCar
Mick Schumacher found the limit “pretty early” in maiden oval test
Mick Schumacher adjusting to life in IndyCar as maiden oval test looms
IndyCar
IndyCar
St. Petersburg
Mick Schumacher adjusting to life in IndyCar as maiden oval test looms
More from
Toyota Racing
Toyota answers critics who doubted it could win in WEC’s competitive Hypercar era
WEC
WEC
Barcelona
Toyota answers critics who doubted it could win in WEC’s competitive Hypercar era
Latest news
Fernando Alonso 'beyond frustration' after engine issue in F1 Mexico GP qualifying
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
43 min
Fernando Alonso 'beyond frustration' after engine issue in F1 Mexico GP qualifying
How Marc Marquez could wrap up the 2026 MotoGP title in Qatar GP
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
2 h
How Marc Marquez could wrap up the 2026 MotoGP title in Qatar GP
Kyle Busch Remembered: Rowdy's top Martinsville moments
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
3 h
Kyle Busch Remembered: Rowdy's top Martinsville moments
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe