Panis Encouraged by 'Promising' Start

Frenchman Olivier Panis was encouraged by the start of his Canadian Grand Prix despite the poor conditions that hampered running in today's first qualifying session.

"I think we have done a good job, especially considering that I have never previously tested the Michelin tyres we put on today," said Panis, 10th quickest today for his Toyota team in today's session.

"In these conditions, things look promising and it is a positive start for the first day. Of course, I hope it gets even better tomorrow. We are certainly going in the right direction."

Panis' teammate Cristiano da Matta, who posted the 16th fastest time of the day, was not so happy with his session, lamenting the tricky conditions at the Canadian circuit.

"It wasn't such a good day for me today," admitted the Brazilian. "The conditions varied so much throughout the practice session that it was difficult to do any meaningful work. It was wet this morning, but it was even wetter in qualifying, which didn't help grip levels on my flying lap.

"It is always a tough challenge in the wet; there is absolutely no room for error and it is much harder to put a perfect lap together. It was quite a benefit knowing the track, particularly as we didn't have any proper dry running this morning."