Toyota fail to repeat points finish in Australia

Ran strongly
By Huw Alban (09/03/03)
March 10 2003

The first race of any season is normally a belter, and the 2003 Australian Grand Prix was no exception. The new rules and a damp start to the race guaranteed drama, but it was reliability that eventually got to Toyota.

As soon as the UK TV coverage (on which this race report is being constructed) started it was immediately obvious that the race would start on a damp track. Rain had fallen about an hour before ITV1 went on the air, and limited coverage of various cars making their way to the grid showed a large amount of dark grey on a normally light grey tarmac surface.

During the pre-race build up there was a split in opinion as to whether it would rain again, and whether a wet tyre was the best to start on. As the tyre covers came off just prior to the parade lap, it became clear that Olivier Panis was sporting a brand new set of slick groved tyres. Coverage of the parade lap showed that the circuit had dried out considerably during the time that the cars were sat on the grid, and the suggestion was that those cars on the grooved tyres had made the wisest choice.

Olivier Panis made an excellent start as the lights went out, making a place to 4th by the first corner. From there it all went wrong, with the Frenchman losing place after place finishing lap 1 in 11th position. The commentary hinted that those on intermediate or wet tyres would be generating tyre heat much more quickly (due to the softer rubber compound), giving them an early edge at the start of the race.

By the time Rubens Barrichello launched his Ferrari into the wall on lap 5, Panis's tyres had come up to temperature, and he had made places up to 7th.

Cristiano da Matta, starting from 16th didn't feature at all in the UK TV coverage, that is until he buried his TF103 into the sand trap after getting out of shape overtaking a Jaguar. Lap 3 recorded Cristiano losing places to 18th, and he retired from the race on lap 8.

Panis, meanwhile, made a quick pit stop and emerged back in 10th place in between the two BAR cars. The race was then interrupted by a small safety car incident, in order to allow the recovery of Barrichello's Ferrari and the stricken Jordan of Ralph Firman. The safety car pulled in on lap 10, and Panis was recorded as running 9th during lap 11.

Both the Williams car pitted on lap 17, by which time Panis has been promoted to 6th. Laps 18 to 21 were again run under the safety car, closing up the field. At the running re-start Panis loses 6th to a hard charging Juan Pablo Montoya. All is not lost however, as both BAR cars make their pit stops on lap 25, moving Olivier back up to 5th.

Panis's run of luck ran out around lap 32, when it emerged that car number 20 was under investigation by the race stewards. Panis had earned himself a drive-through penalty for crossing the pit lane exit line, which he took quickly, but soon after the TV commentary noted that Panis's car had stopped on the circuit. A couple of laps later a fleeting glimpse of the stranded Toyota could be seen parked up on the grass.

This was nevertheless a strong run from the Frenchman and the team. The team should take heart from the strong performance of the TF103 package, but take note that BAR have made a leap forward in performance amd that Renault and Sauber look particularly strong at this early point in the season.

The F1 pack now moves on to Malaysia for the second race of the 2003 season.