Panis Optimistic of Strong Weekend

Toyota driver Olivier Panis is optimistic of a competitive weekend for the Japanese squad after finishing in a strong fifth position in first qualifying for the British Grand Prix.

"I am very pleased with this result," said the Frenchman after the session. "We expected to go quite well here, because the car suits this kind of high-speed track. We had a productive test in Barcelona last week and we have some new aero parts on the car for this race, which look promising.

"I love this circuit and Cristiano had a good test here at the beginning of June, so I am in a very positive frame of mind for the rest of the weekend. Michelin has again supplied us with some competitive tyres for this race, which helps us even further."

Panis, who scored his second point of the season at the French Grand Prix two weeks ago, outpaced his Brazilian teammate Cristiano da Matta, 10th quickest today.

"As a team, we appear to be looking quite strong here this weekend, but my lap time wasn't all that great," said da Matta. "Of course, tenth place is a good result, but I think there is more to come from the car and we have to make the overall balance a bit better.

"We should be encouraged by getting two cars in the top ten. I am happy with the progress we have made over the last couple of races, and if we continue in this way, I think we are looking in good form the rest of the weekend."