Problems slow Toyotas

Toyota's preparations for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne were hampered by glitches with all three of its cars during Friday's practice sessions

Brazilian Cristiano da Matta finished 14th and 16th in the two sessions, suffered a couple of spins and failed to finish the second run thanks to a puncture in his rear-left tyre. He said: "In the first hour, the track didn't have much grip and we decided not to run much. In the second session, I experienced some brake problems. Not the best start to the weekend."

Meanwhile, fellow race driver Olivier Panis struggled with the set-up of his car and was held up by traffic during his quick laps on new tyres, ending up 16th and 18th. "I had a difficult first day in Australia," he said. "We were unable to complete many laps and I am not yet happy with the set-up."

Third driver Ricardo Zonta did manage to complete a back-to-back tyre test for the team, giving them a clear idea of which rubber to choose for tomorrow's qualifying and Sunday's race, but even Zonta's runs were not without their problems.

Toyota technical director Mike Gascoyne said: "Ricardo had a small electrical problem, which limited his running. Both race drivers had some little problems. Overall, the session panned out pretty much as expected and we got some good data."