Toyota promise much but fall out.

It was a strong debut race for the Toyota F1 team in their second season in Formula One with Olivier Panis in the front end of the action and on slicks at the start but reliability gremlins struck later in the race.

It was a bit of a harder time for Cristiano da Matta as he failed to finish his debut Grand Prix and fell off the track through his own devices.

Panis was regularly running in a points-scoring position during the half of the race that he contested, but a fuel pressure problem forced him out of the race on lap 32.

"We have been having a problem with the fuel pressure sometimes during the weekend and it came back during the race today," Panis explained. "We made a good decision to start the race on slick tyres and it is a real shame because we were going so well. I am sure we missed out on a podium today, but I want to remain positive. The car felt really good and I think the whole team has done a good job and we have shown our potential this weekend."

Starting from 16th on the grid, Cristiano da Matta was making good progress through the field, but retired on lap 7, braking too late into turn 3.

Team boss Ove Andersson gave his take on Toyata's 2003 race debut. "I am disappointed but I am not concerned because I think the TF103 car has shown really good potential," he explained. "We can look forward now with careful confidence for the upcoming races. I am sorry for both Olivier and Cristiano for what has happened today, but that is racing and we have to live with that. They have been around long enough in racing to know that!"