13/06/2004
NEWS STORY
Cristiano da Matta: "It was a tough race, but satisfying to take one point away with us today. Again, though, I feel we have been let down from an even better result because of more trouble with the blue flags. The final stint was ridiculous. I was letting people past all the time and I was barely able put any proper laps together. I believe we had the ability to fight with Fisichella and Raikkonen for sixth place, but the situation with flags during the race stopped us. I know we cannot ruin the race of the guys in front, but we also have points to fight for. Anyway, one point is certainly better than zero and we will see what happens in Indianapolis next weekend."
Olivier Panis: "I got a good start, but the Jaguar crashed just in front of me and I had to back off, which left me in ninth place. The strategy we had for my car could have worked, but unfortunately all of my efforts were hampered by the first incident, where I lost time moving around the cars, as well as by some slow backmarkers. Sato also went off right in front of me, which was additional time lost. I did my best to bring the car home and Cristiano's one point is positive for the team. I am looking forward to Indianapolis for my 150th race, where I will push for points, because we have proved today that we have the ability to score them."
Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal: "It was a good race for Toyota today with both cars finishing in the top ten. We are getting everything out of the car and we can celebrate another championship point with Cristiano's eighth place, which is great news. We qualified with a fair amount of fuel and opted for the correct race strategy. It played into our hands at the start, where Cristiano and Olivier did well to miss the accident. Both drivers did a good job to get to the flag in a hard race. We now head to Indianapolis, where I hope we can repeat the same level of performance we have shown this weekend."