By Site Staff
January 17 2003

Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta completed the first public test session of the 2003 season yesterday at Barcelona, and the team now return to Paul Ricard happy with the progress made. Next week Ricardo Zonta will get his first taste of the Toyota F1 package when he takes the wheel of the TF102B Overall the team completed over 100 laps on the last day of the Barcelona test, with Panis at the wheel of the new TF103 working on setup and tyre testing, and da Matta still in the interim car doing much the same but with component endurance testing added in.

"We finished this week's test on a very promising note with the new car," Panis was quoted as saying yesterday. "I feel it is competitive and it proved to be responsive to changes. We obviously have room for improvement during the next tests and have identified some good directions of work. I am very happy with the work done."

"I am overall very pleased with this test," added da Matta to Toyota-F1.com. "Although Tuesday was a bad day for me, Wednesday was excellent and today was good as well. I managed a great deal of laps in total and we could test some components that will be used on the TF103 in the near future. I really look forward to having my first ride in the new car next week !"

General Manager of Car Design, Keizo Takahashi, also travels to Paul Ricard happy with the weeks work and clearer now on the path that the team needs to take in developing the new package. "This was our first real test with the TF103 and we are very happy with the outcome," he said. "Olivier did a very good job and is very positive about the new car. We gathered a lot of valuable data in the aerodynamic and mechanical fields but also on the engine and electronics side. Cristiano carried out some important work on components for the new car and all in all, we have a lot in our hands to improve in the coming weeks."

The team are now planning another three day test at Paul Ricard next week, where Cristiano da Matta will get his first taste of the new 2003 car and Ricardo Zonta will start his duties for the team.