Monaco GP: Toyota Saturday qualifying notes

Comments from the Toyota team after qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix

Olivier Panis:

"Through this morning's sessions, I had some problems and did not feel too confident in the car, but this afternoon was much better. All the engineers and mechanics reacted very well after the practice to prepare a good car for me in qualifying. We did not expect to be fantastic at this circuit, but we did the job we needed to do and I am quite happy with my qualifying lap."

Cristiano da Matta:

"I felt that my lap was actually quite good considering our general lack of grip and I think we extracted all we could from the car today. Of course, there is always a little bit to gain here or there, but I don't believe we would have been able to achieve much more. In terms of performance, I hope that we can be a little bit better in the race, we just have to see what tomorrow brings."

Mike Gascoyne - Technical Director Chassis:

"Coming here, we knew that we would struggle for pace in qualifying, so we have aimed for a more conservative race strategy. With the way the tyres are behaving, I am sure that this is the right decision. The team did a reasonable job today and the cars are quite well balanced, just lacking in grip, as we knew they would be. Now we have to see how the race pans out tomorrow and ensure that we get both cars to the finish."

Olivier Panis
Car 17, Chassis TF104/07, T-car TF104/03
Pre-Qualifying: 10th
Lap Time: 1m15.125s (+0.642s)
Qualifying: 13th
Lap Time: 1m15.859s (+1.874s)
Grid Position: 13th

Cristiano da Matta
Car 16, Chassis TF104/04, T-car TF104/06
Pre-Qualifying: 13th
Lap Time: 1m15.738s (+1.255s)
Qualifying: 15th
Lap Time: 1m16.169s (+2.184s)
Grid Position: 15th

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