Grand Prix of France -
Free Practice Round-Up
Friday 2 July 2004
 Cristiano
da Matta (Car 16, Chassis TF104/04)
First Session Classification: 10th, 5 laps completed Lap Time: 1m26.757s
(+11.270s)
Second Session Classification: 1st, 12 laps completed Lap Time:
1m15.518 (Fastest)
"Obviously it is nice to finish top of the timesheets in the second
session today, but that does not necessarily mean anything. We timed our
last run to perfection and went out on a new set of tyres when the track was
at its best. Our main objective for today was to carry out the tyre
evaluation, which was pretty impossible in the ever-changing wet-dry track
conditions. At least we have the two practice sessions tomorrow morning in
order to do our back-to-back comparison before we have to make our final
decision by noon. A very inconclusive day, really."
 Olivier
Panis (Car 17, Chassis TF104/03)
First Session Classification: 11th, 4 laps completed Lap Time: 1m27.449s
(+11.962s)
Second Session Classification: 11th, 10 laps completed Lap Time: 1m17.303s
(+1.785s)
"Due to the constantly changing weather conditions it was a quite
difficult day for us. However, we tried to concentrate on our programme and
hopefully we can find some valuable information from the data in preparation
for tomorrow. At the end of the session we decided not to go out any more
with a new set of tyres and to set some faster times. Nevertheless I am
really happy with the car as it looks quite competitive. It is nice to be
back racing in France in front of my home fans and I hope we can give them a
good result to celebrate on Sunday. We will get a clearer indication in
tomorrow's practice sessions."
 Ricardo
Zonta (Car 38, Chassis TF104/07)
First Session Classification: 13th, 18 laps completed Lap Time: 1m29.085s
(+13.598s)
Second Session Classification: 15th, 15 laps completed Lap Time: 1m17.735s
(+2.217s)
"We didn't obtain any meaningful results from either of today's
practice sessions because the weather conditions were so changeable. My last
time of running at Magny-Cours was back in 2000, so I took a few laps in the
first session to learn the modifications to the final sector, which are new
to me. In the second session, I made a mistake on a dry tyre run. I was
carrying too much speed into the third corner and I drove through a large
patch of standing water, which appeared to be dry as I was approaching it.
This sent me into the gravel trap, but it was easy to get back on track and
fortunately we did not lose too much time. Like everyone, the inconsistent
track conditions affected our programme a lot today." |
