Toyota Drivers Relying on Race Strategy

The Toyota team are hopeful their strategy will pay off in tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix after compromising their qualifying pace today.

Brazilian Cristiano da Matta was the top qualifier for the Japanese squad, who opted to carry more fuel in their cars during qualifying to prepare for the race.

"My lap was not great and I feel that I could have extracted another two or three tenths from the car," said da Matta, 12th quickest. "Having said that, we have been more concentrated on our race pace this weekend, so we did not expect to be so hot today.

"We maybe had a bit too much understeer in the qualifying session, but that will help conserve our rear tyres in the race, which could give us a competitive edge. The overall results reflect where we thought we would be with our strategy.

"We believe that the direction we have opted for is the right one and we have put our money on it paying off tomorrow."

Frenchman Olivier Panis finished right behind his Brazilian teammate in 13th place.

"I think I did a good lap considering the strategy that we are using for tomorrow's race," said Panis. "It is always possible to improve by some tenths-of-a-second, but likewise, it is also easy to lose five.

"I actually feel really positive for the race because the tyres and the car appeared quite consistent during the long runs we completed in the practice sessions this morning. Now we simply need to wait and see where we are tomorrow in comparison with everybody else's strategy."