By Toyota F1 Media
December 13 2003
The Toyota F1 team, like all other teams, completed their final test session for 2003, at the Jerez cicuit. Present at the circuit was regular drivers Olivier Panis, Cristiano da Matta, and test driver Ricardo Zonta.
| Jerez Test December 2003 Summary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates: 9-12 December 2003 Location: Circuito de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain Drivers: Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta (9th-11th), Ricardo Zonta (12th) Track Length: 4.428km Cristiano da Matta Total laps: 122 Best Lap Time: 1m18.584s Chassis: TF103/03 and TF103B "We had a difficult first two days and we did not get much running done,
however the final day was better and more productive, although we did not
manage to complete our entire testing programme. We had some small and not
too serious problems, but this is what testing is all about. I only drove
the new TF103B car on a heavily wet track on Tuesday and on a damp track for
most of Wednesday. I actually only had a dozen or so laps in fully dry track
conditions, which is not really enough to say a lot about it but I had a
good impression nevertheless. We got some constructive work done, especially
regarding the control systems and tuning and we completed our tyre test. All
in all, it was good to drive the car again after quite a long break." "This week's test at Jerez was my first test session since the Japanese
Grand Prix and I was really happy to get back to work, especially because I
feel in very good physical shape after a very comprehensive training
programme during my holiday in Brittany. It has been a great pleasure to be
back with the team again. My overall programme for the week was split into
two with the first two days concentrating on tyre testing with the standard
TF103 car. On Thursday, I switched to the interim TF103B car. We had very
bad weather Tuesday and a few typical testing problems on the other days but
we drew some positive results from work on the old car and have seen
encouraging signs with the new car. An improvement in performance from a
grip point of view will be an essential aspect to work on and I look forward
to testing with the entire new TF104 chassis in mid-January to start the new
season." "Ironically after a week of quite wet conditions, our programme for today revolved purely around an extensive wet weather Michelin tyre test on an artificially-wet track. It was a very promising day and with good reliability, we were able to achieve over one hundred laps. This was the final day of testing in 2003, so we are all going to enjoy a little break over Christmas and New Year before the TF104 car is launched in the middle of January and 2004 preparation really get underway." |
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