No points again for Toyota

Olivier Panis finished down in 11th place, hampered by his poor qualifying position, while grand prix returnee Ricardo Zonta was forced out by an electronic problem, although his race started badly with a first corner spin.

"We were disappointed and surprised at the lack of qualifying performance after going well in free practice, and there was little I could do to make up the lost ground," said Panis, who was also caught up in the first corner melee. "I made a good start, almost got alongside Mark Webber but then had to back off."

Zonta said: "I am naturally disappointed with the result. I got a good start and made up a few positions on the run down to the first corner. Things got very tight through Turn 1 and I was hit from behind by a Jordan, which sent me into a spin and to the back of the field.

"I then had a lot of overtaking to do, something that is very difficult at this track. In the end, I was making progress, but the car suddenly lost all power and I had to stop. I have settled into my new role as race driver quite easily thanks to the team and I am looking forward to a much stronger performance in Spa."

Technical director Mike Gascoyne said: "The pace, as at Hockenheim, was there in the free practice sessions but we were let down by the qualifying performance, where we went backwards by half a second compared to the other Michelin runners. The knock-on effect of that was to put us back into the pack, where the first lap is often hectic, and we paid the price.

"Both drivers made good starts but then there was the incident with Pantano. Olivier, once he got into clean air, showed that he could run a good pace. He then got blue flags at a time when he was running at the same pace as Montoya and Button and, effectively, had to wait for them. If we could have run his last two stints first, we'd have been in a lot better shape."