By Huw Alban (07/03/03)
March 7 2003

F1 and Toyota rookie, Cristiano da Matta, found out very quickly today how tough the sport can be. Whilst concentrating hard on making the most of the one hour free practice, he forgot about the pit lane speed limit. Stewards at the circuit fined the Brazilian twice within the space of 15 minutes. The first offense took place 47 minutes into the free practice session, and he collected $4,500 in fines as a result of the two breaches.

Just how hard he was trying became evident when he gave a brief quote to the UK TV channel ITV1, where he already sounded under pressure because of the new rules. "For me, one hour on the track on Friday definately is not a lot of time to get to learn the circuit and to get ready for the first qualifying," he said before the TV station's coverage of the Friday qualifying.

"So then on Saturday I only have one lap, so the track time is very limited this year. For me as a rookie of course it is not beneficial but, it is the rule of the game we have to play like this."

da Matta finished Friday qualifying in an excellent 11th place.