Text - Panasonic Toyota Racing: Barcelona Test - Day 1

Panasonic Toyota Racing was back again at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain today, where Cristiano da Matta opened a four-day test in the TF103. Although the session was initially planned to last three days, the team swiftly decided to extend it with the clear objective to overcome the fuel pressure problem that plagued their first two races of the season.

Cristiano da Matta - Car No. 21
Chassis: TF103/03
Best lap time: 1m17.52, 67 laps completed
Working on: Car set-up, suspensions, data collection on fuel pressure system.

"This morning, we started working a bit on the general set-up of the car, and we focused on some suspension work, testing a couple of new solutions. In the afternoon, while we continued to go through some set-up items, we concentrated primarily on understanding the problem that affected us in the Malaysian Grand Prix. We know it was partly caused by the extreme temperatures in Sepang, which is clearly not easy to simulate here in Europe, but we collected a lot of good data this afternoon and we will continue working on this in the next few days."

Weather: Sunny and clear all day. Air temperature: 12-19°C.
Track: Dry at all times. Track temperature: 13-26°C.

Preview:
Tomorrow, Cristiano will complete his second and final day of for this week before handing over the single TF103 to Olivier Panis for the last two days of the session.

Upcoming Events
Next Test:
26-28 March, Circuit Paul Ricard, France (Zonta all days)
08-11 April, Circuit Paul Ricard, France (Panis 2 days, da Matta last 2, Zonta 4 days)

Next Race:
04-06 April 2003 - Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos

Cristiano da Matta's in-depth insight into last weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix is now available exclusively on the Panasonic Toyota Racing media website, www.toyota-f1-media.com.