The Panasonic Toyota Racing team only managed to get one car across the line in their home race at the Nurburgring this afternoon after losing Cristiano da Matta on the opening lap.
Despite a fantastic start that saw him gain two positions, Olivier Panis, who started tenth on the grid, crossed the line a lap down on the winning Ferrari of Michael Schumacher in eleventh place after a general lack of grip from his Michelin rubber.
"I got a fantastic start and took some risk heading into the first corner, but I managed to gain two places in the process. Everything was going well and I was retaining eighth place, but it became rather difficult to hold onto the group in front of me,” the Frenchman explained. “The tyres dropped off quite quickly and it was clear that the race was going to be tough. I am very disappointed for myself and the whole team, but at least we finished the race, so from here we will continue to keep pushing to produce a quicker racing car."
Meanwhile, Cristiano da Matta was the innocent victim of a get together between the two BMW Williams drivers on the opening lap, the Brazilian’s TF104 left with nowhere to go when Ralf Schumacher’s FW26 was pushed into him. Cristiano doesn’t blame the German driver, knowing it was nothing more than a simple racing incident.
"I didn't really see what happened, only a Williams locking its wheels quite badly approaching the first corner. After that, there was not a great deal I could do about the situation,” he explained. “I tried to carry on to the left to make my way around, but there was nowhere for me to go. Obviously it is not nice to retire from a race through no fault of my own, but it was a racing incident and these things occur from time to time. I have a three-day test in Silverstone next week where we will work hard on preparing the cars for the next back-to-back races in Canada and the US.""Overall, it was a frustrating race for Panasonic Toyota Racing. On the softer of the Michelin tyre compounds, we struggled for consistency,” added Tsutomu Tomita, Team Principal. “With our general lack of grip, it seems that we were affected more in terms of race pace as the tyres went off and the car began to slide. Cristiano was pushed off at the start, which was not his fault. Olivier made a good start, but was not able to maintain the speed of the group in front of him. We were simply not able to keep up with the two-stopping cars, but we will continue to put all of our efforts into making developments for the rest of the season."
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