Turkish Grand Prix - Qualifying Round-Up
PENALTY QUICK
Panasonic Toyota Racing will have a lot of work to do in
tomorrow's Turkish Grand Prix after a mixed afternoon's work
during qualifying at the Istanbul Park circuit. There were
more clouds in the sky than for yesterday's practice sessions,
but track temperatures nonetheless continued to approach 50
degrees Celsius. Ralf Schumacher had a good hour of qualifying
and comfortably made it through Q1 and Q2 before recording
the 5th fastest time of an exciting final shoot-out. Unfortunately
Ralf suffered a ten-place penalty because the team changed
his engine as a precaution last night so he will line up in
15th place tomorrow. Jarno battled understeer and failed to
make it through Q2, setting the 13th fastest time. Nonetheless
he is confident of making ground from his 12th place on the
grid. Despite the difficult start to the weekend, Toyota will
now push hard as it bids to score a strong result in Sunday's
race.
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/08B)
PROVISIONAL GRID: 12th
Free Practice Session 3: 11th, 17 laps
Lap Time: 1m28.861s (+1.658s)
Q1: 14th, 6 laps
Lap Time: 1m28.549s (+1.243s)
Q2: 13th, 6 laps
Lap Time: 1m27.973s (+2.123s)
"That was a difficult day's work for me. I hoped to
make it into Q3 but it was hard to find a good balance today.
Still, I remain confident for the race because I have made
a conservative tyre choice and I was quick and consistent
both this morning and yesterday. I'm thinking more about the
race than qualifying and I hope that risk will pay off tomorrow.
It will still be a hard race and the start will be crucial
here because the first corner is downhill and very tight.
But if we can make it through unscathed then we should have
a good chance to progress. We have been steadily getting more
competitive and edging closer to the top teams so if we can
stay reliable I believe with the race pace we have we can
do well and challenge for a strong finish."
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/10B)
PROVISIONAL GRID: 15th
Free Practice Session 3: 17th, 18 laps
Lap Time: 1m29.374s (+2.171s)
Q1: 3rd, 6 laps
Lap Time: 1m27.668s (+0.362s)
Q2: 5th, 3 laps
Lap Time: 1m27.062s (+1.212s)
Q3: 5th, 11 laps
Lap Time: 1m27.569s (+0.662s)
"Our objective was to make the top five in qualifying
so that was a good session for us. The car felt good and we
did as well as we could have expected. It's obviously a pity
to drop back ten places due to our precautionary engine change.
Given that penalty we are on a very good strategy and I believe
we are in a strong position to gain ground tomorrow. We've
been competitive all weekend so we are confident with our
pace and it is possible to overtake here. Last year I had
a busy race and I expect more of the same tomorrow. Our target
is to make the points with both cars and I believe it is possible.
If we can make a good start then we will be in good shape."
Pascal Vasselon - Senior General Manager Chassis
"In terms of our grid position for tomorrow that is obviously
one of our lowest results of the season but we understand
the reasons for that. We changed Ralf's engine as a precaution
yesterday evening, preferring to accept the ten-place penalty
rather than risk a failure this weekend. So that meant we
had to adapt his strategy accordingly. He did well to go fifth
quickest in Q3 but he will start 15th tomorrow. We have a
different strategy for Jarno, who had a different day. He
struggled for grip, and that is why he missed out on the top
ten. Still, this is a circuit where we can hope to make up
ground in the race. We knew that this would be a hard track
for tyres but it is clear that the Bridgestone tyres we have
are well suited to its demands. We will be starting lower
down the grid than we expected but we remain confident that
our strategy can bring both cars home in the points tomorrow."
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