Panis Admits to Costly Mistake

Frenchman Olivier Panis admitted a costly mistake on his flying lap in today's qualifying session cost him a lot of valuable positions for tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Toyota driver had topped the timesheets in final practice before the grid-deciding one-lap qualifying this afternoon. However, Panis, who is yet to finish a race this season, ran wide at a corner in the middle part of his lap, losing a lot of time and finishing down in 15th position.

"I tried to push hard but I made a big mistake in the second sector and we are down in fifteenth as a result," admitted Panis, who despite the error was the fastest of the Toyota drivers.

"I really want to say sorry to the team because we did a great job in free practice this morning and the car is really good in terms of performance, so obviously I am extremely disappointed for the team and myself but tomorrow is another day and I will try to drive to the limit tomorrow to get some points."

Teammate Cristiano da Matta completed a disappointing day for the Japanese outfit. The Brazilian CART champion failed to shine in front of his home crowd and will have to take the start of his first home Grand Prix from 18th position.

"Due to the bad weather conditions yesterday, we simply haven't had enough track time to find the optimum set up on the car for this track," said da Matta. "I experienced problems with the grip levels and the general handling of the car this morning, so we made some changes to the set-up, which did not make any difference.

"I am really unhappy to be starting my home GP from so far back on the grid, but we'll see what happens tomorrow."