Toyota launch McNish on pole for Toyota race seat
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8th place finish for McNish in Spain - Sunday 28 April 2002
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Allan McNish finished today's Spanish Grand Prix in eighth place to record his second classified finish of the season. The Panasonic Toyota Racing driver started the 65-lap race in 19th, benefiting one place on the grid from his qualifying time of 20th as Jaguar Racing's Eddie Irvine was penalised for a fuel irregularity, dropping the Ulsterman to the back of the field. Following wing failures throughout the entire weekend the Minardi team withdrew from the race prior to the start.
With the TF102 lacking down-force McNish drove a sensible race around the twists and turns of the Circuit de Catalunya, moving up the field as those around either spun out or suffered mechanical gremlins. Making two pit-stops along the way Allan finished the race a lap down from the victorious Michael Schumacher but one place ahead of his Toyota team-mate Mika Salo.
"Considering the starting position it was a good race for us," commented McNish. "The balance moved a bit through the race but certainly the car got stronger. The best thing is we had a two-car finish, and that experience will be very good for the team. To have the second finish under my belt this year is great and I quite enjoyed it!"
The team now moves to Estoril for a three-day test session. Test driver Ryan Briscoe will drive all days at the Portuguese track from 28-30 April.
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Start line failure eliminates McNish - Sunday 14 April 2002
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Allan McNish retired from today's San Marino Grand Prix, his first mechanical retirement of the season. McNish's TF102 lost all drive on the opening lap, whilst gear problems later in the race caused his Finnish team-mate, Mika Salo's first retirement of the season on lap 26
Speaking after his short lived San Marino Grand Prix McNish commented:
"Just after the start of the race I lost drive and I could not go forward at all. I had no choice but to pull over to the side and fortunately no-one else was caught up in it. This is the first time we have had such a problem because our reliability has been very good up to now. "
Panasonic Toyota Racing's President Ove Andersson reflected on their lacklustre day at Imola:
"Obviously we are disappointed but we have to face reality. We have been quite lucky up to now, and today's retirements are part of our learning curve. We now have to investigate the cause of the problems and then look forward to our next test in Mugello and the next race in Barcelona."
Panasonic Toyota Racing remains in Italy for a three-day test next week in Mugello. Salo and McNish will test on 16 and 17 April, whilst test drivers Ryan Briscoe and Stéphane Sarrazin will take over on 18 April.
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McNish retires from Brazilian Grand Prix - Sunday 31 March 2002
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Allan McNish retired on lap 40 of today's Brazilian Grand Prix following handling problems triggered by earlier events in the race.
Speaking after his second retirement in three races McNish explained:
"I made a good start and was making very good progress until Montoya hit Schumacher. I was just behind Mika when he pulled out and I hit Juan’s wing, which was lying in the middle of the track. It damaged the nose of my car and punctured the front tyres, so I was forced to pit. The car’s handling then got worse and worse with oversteer and, at Turn 4, the rear wheel locked up."
Allan's team-mate Mika Salo brought some consolation to the team with his second sixth place of the season, adding another point to the team's tally following his run to sixth in the Australian Grand Prix earlier this month.
Michael Schumacher won the 71 lap race from his brother Ralf in second. Allan's fellow Scot, David Coulthard claimed the final podium position in third.
Panasonic Toyota Racing will test next week in Valencia, Spain, from Tuesday, 2nd April to Thursday 4th April. Allan McNish will carry out the driving duties.
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Latest Information - Malasian Grand Prix "Allan Flies"
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Allan McNish put his qualifying woes behind him when the lights went out for the start of today’s Malaysian Grand Prix. The ‘Flying Scotsman’ rocketed off the line from 19th on the grid in his Panasonic Toyota Racing TF102 and was 11th by the end of the first tour of the Sepang International Circuit.
Having missed out on running a full lap in the Australian Grand Prix McNish was clearly relishing the opportunity of mixing it up with his F1 colleagues for the first time on track. After breaking into the top ten and then sitting behind his Finnish team-mate Mika Salo in eighth Allan’s opportunity for glory came as he ran the final stages of the 56 lap race in sixth and in the final points paying position.
After scoring a point in their F1 debut the Toyota team had the chance to capitalise and add to that tally until a mix up in Allan’s second and final pit-stop robbed them of a top six finish. McNish took the chequered flag in seventh behind the Sauber duo of Heidfeld in fifth and Massa in sixth, the Brazilian ‘rookie’ benefiting from McNish’s delayed pit-stop.
Allan had pitted soon after Salo’s final stop and the confusion in the pits was over a new set of tyres for the Scot.
“I don’t fully know what happened yet but there was some confusion over the stops and I came into the pits just after my team-mate had left and my tyres weren’t ready yet,” explained McNish. “The team put the fuel in and to save time they put the same set of tyres back on and I had to go to the end of the race on that set.
Regarding the opportunity to score points in only his second F1 start he added:
“I think I had Felipe Massa covered. I knew where I was quicker and I had all the angles weighed up. So long as I got out of the pits ahead of him after my second pit stop, sixth place was definitely on the cards.”
“Obviously I am pretty happy considering where we started from on the grid. The car felt more comfortable to drive – a lot more than it was in qualifying and on Friday. Today I was able to race with cars that I didn’t think I’d be racing with at this stage in our F1 programme. We can now look ahead to Brazil with a lot more confidence.”
Germany’s Ralf Schumacher won the race for Williams ahead of Colombian team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya. Pole winner Michael Schumacher completed the podium snatching third from Jenson Button on the final lap.
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latest News - First Corner Chaos in Oz
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Allan McNish's Formula One debut came to an abrupt end as the Panasonic Toyota Racing driver was caught up in the first corner chaos in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
The melee was triggered when WilliamsF1 driver Ralf Schumacher ran into the back of pole-sitter Rubens Barrichello as they contested the lead into the first corner. The ensuing collision forced drivers behind to run wide with McNish taking avoiding action, running onto the grass and subsequently being hit and taken out of the race.
The action filtered back, a bit like a motorway pile-up, McNish explained. Someone hit me and broke my front wheel and front wing.
The safety car was dispatched as a total of nine cars were immediately out of the race with several more limping back to the pits.
The good news for McNish and the Toyota F1 team is the other TF102, being driven by Mika Salo, remained in the race, subsequently finishing the 58 lap race in an impressive sixth, presenting the Japanese marque with a World Championship point on their F1 debut.
Overall McNish was pleased with Toyota's maiden Grand Prix:
We're happy with our performance, the team did a good job this weekend. It's just a shame for me that it had to end in the way that it did, not getting past the opening lap in our first Grand Prix is quite disappointing. Despite that I gained a lot more experience during the weekend. The team have been superb and I'm thrilled for Mika scoring a point.
2001 World Champion, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher won the event, his third straight win in the Australian GP, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya for Williams with McLaren new boy Kimi Raikkonen in third. Jaguar's Eddie Irvine finished fourth ahead of another impressive debutant, Minardi's Mark Webber scoring two points for fifth with Salo in sixth.
The Panasonic Toyota Racing team head back to Europe now to resuming testing at Paul Ricard in the south of France. The two day session on the 7 - 8 March will see newly appointed test driver, Stephane Sarrazin make his debut for the team.
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latest News - Allan qualifies on row eight for his F1 debut
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Panasonic Toyota Racing's Allan McNish will start his first ever Grand Prix from 16th on the grid following a weather affected qualifying session today in Melbourne.
The 32-year-old ˜rookie" produced only one flying lap, with a time of 1m 29.636s, in the first half of the session but it was good enough to secure a row 8 start alongside Arrow's Heinz-Harald Frentzen. McNish's team-mate Mika Salo also produced just the one flying lap before the rain started to fall over Albert Park and he lines up only two places higher than Allan in 14th.
Toyota produced a respectable team performance on their F1 debut with both cars qualifying ahead of the two Jaguar Racing cars as well as an Arrows, the Minardi's and a Jordan. McNish reflected the team's performance speaking after his maiden qualifying session:
"The weather dictated a lot today in qualifying. I wanted to get a lap in at the beginning of the session and we got a good base. Unfortunately it began to rain so we were limited to that one run, but I think overall the team should be happy for our first venture into Formula 1".
Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello secured his first pole position for 30 races with his lap time, 1 min 25.843s. World Champion Michael Schumacher ensured a Ferrari front row by taking second, a mere 5/1000ths of a second behind his team-mate.
Fans in the UK can watch the race live on ITV1 at 1:55am on Sunday 3 March.
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The winning formula for F1 in 2002!!!!!!!!