Zonta Admits to Costly Mistake

Brazilian Ricardo Zonta was sorry after an error in pre-qualifying cost him a chance of a good grid position for tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix.

Toyota driver Zonta will start from last place after the Brazilian skidded off track in pre-qualifying and failed to set a competitive time in the grid-deciding session.

Zonta, the first man on track in the second session, said he had to complete his flying lap with parts of his car still damaged.

"My grid position was affected a lot by the mistake I made in the first qualifying session," admitted the Brazilian. "There was not much grip on the track due to the large amount of rain that had fallen all morning. I ran over one of the white lines around the track, but it was very slippery and I was sent into the gravel.

"The team did an incredible job trying to repair the car for the second qualifying session, but some of the aero parts were damaged, which unbalanced the car a lot for my second run. I am very sorry for the team, but I hope our strategy will work to our advantage and enable me to work my way up through the field."

Frenchman Olivier Panis, on the other hand, had a strong session and finished in ninth position, over four seconds ahead of his teammate.

"It was a good qualifying session for us today," said Panis. "I did a very good lap running with full wet tyres and the team managed everything well in difficult conditions. We have opted to run a different tyre compound compared to other Michelin runners this weekend, which worked well in yesterday's dry practice sessions.

"To be ninth on the grid with the strategy we have opted for and the tyres we have selected, I am very confident that we can have a strong race tomorrow."