Toyota Blame Lack of Grip for Slow Start

Toyota's technical director Mike Gascoyne blamed the lack of grip for the team's poor showing at the season opening Australian Grand Prix.

Neither Cristiano da Matta nor Olivier Panis were in contention during the race after a dismal qualifying on Saturday. Brazilian da Matta finished the race in 12th place, while Frenchman Panis wound up 13th, both men two laps behind race winner Michael Schumacher.

Gascoyne said both drivers had been hindered by the lack of grip during the race, but was confident of improvements for the next race in Malaysia.

"On a positive note, the reliability of the car was excellent and we got both cars to the finish," said Gascoyne after the race. "Performance-wise, the race was very disappointing with both drivers suffering from a general lack of grip from the tyres. We experienced no particular problems with the balance of the car, just a lack of grip throughout the race.

"Cristiano stalled the car on his first pitstop, which lost him a couple of positions, but overall this weekend just shows the size of the task in front of us. We need to make the car quicker, however the programmes to do that have already been put in place, so I am sure we will achieve that during the course of the season.

"Looking ahead to Malaysia, we already have some aero improvements for that race and I am sure that the nature of the Sepang circuit and the higher track temperatures will mean we have a more competitive package than we had here in Australia."