Turkish Grand Prix - Race Round-Up
THROUGH TURKEY WHOLE
Panasonic Toyota Racing will leave Istanbul with two points
after an eventful afternoon's work in today's Turkish Grand
Prix. On a blisteringly hot day at the Istanbul Park, with
track temperatures again above 50 degrees Celsius, Toyota's
drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher had it all to do
today from their respective grid positions of 12th and 15th.
Unfortunately both drivers lost ground on the first lap after
they were caught up in the carnage of a major first corner
incident that involved nearly half the field. Thankfully both
were able to continue, although Ralf had to stop for a new
front wing which left him way down the running order. The
team switched his strategy to include only one further pit
stop and he was able to make it up into the points in an eventual
7th place. Jarno made up a few places with good passing manoeuvres
in the early laps but he struggled for grip as the race went
on, finishing just outside the points in 9th. Toyota will
this week test at Italy's Monza circuit in preparation for
the Italian Grand Prix in a fortnight's time.
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/10B)
Race Classification: 7th
Gap: +59.337s (from race winner)
Qualifying Classification: 5th
Time: 1m27.569s (+0.662s in Q3)
Grid: 15th
"It was always going to be hard work starting so far
back on the grid today so it was a big achievement to score
two points. Of course there was also the danger of being caught
up in an incident at the first corner here and so it proved.
It was chaotic and unfortunately I lost my front wing. I lost
time when I pitted to replace it, but at least we were able
to fill up with fuel so we would need only one more stop.
Early on in the first stint I struggled with understeer on
the heavy load but that improved after the safety car and
I was able to make up some ground. The balance was good after
my second stop and I was able to push hard. Again we have
shown a lot of potential this weekend. Now it's just down
to us to get it right and avoid any more small problems. That
way we can challenge for the podium again soon."
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/08B)
Race Classification: 9th
Gap: +1 lap (from race winner)
Qualifying Classification: 13th
Time: 1m27.973s (+2.123s in Q2)
Grid: 12th
"That was a difficult afternoon for me, beginning with
the confusion at the start. The first corner here is hard,
braking downhill and it will always make for treacherous starts
to the races. Today was one of those days and when I was hit
from behind I could not avoid hitting a car in front of me.
I lost positions and it was a hard battle from there. I enjoyed
the first part of the race and made up ground but the main
problem for me was the safety car, which came at just the
wrong time for me. The car in front of me also slowed down
excessively before the field had closed up and it all meant
that I lost a lot of the gap that I had gained. But the main
problem for me was that my tyre choice was a bit too conservative
for the race. Yesterday I was confident because I knew from
practice that they would be consistent. But they behaved just
as they had in qualifying and it was not enough to challenge
any higher."
Tsutomu Tomita – Team Principal
"Considering the poor grid positions from which we started
the race, today's result was reasonable. But the first part
of the weekend left us with too much work to do to compete
with the top cars in the race. Then the race got off to a
bad start when both our drivers were involved in the first
corner incident. When Ralf pitted for a new front wing we
used the chance to fuel him up and change our strategy to
an effective one-stopper. He also damaged some aerodynamic
parts and he complained about the balance in the early part
of the race. But the safety car played into his hands and
from then on his balance improved and he scored a strong points
finish. Jarno had a different race and he struggled for grip
just as he did in qualifying. So that meant we probably chose
tyres that were too hard. He did well in the early laps but
the safety car did him no favours considering his strategy.
From then on he could not find a good balance but he did well
to bring the car home. During the race I was frustrated that
our lap times were a bit off the pace of the top teams. We
have four races remaining and we have more new aero parts
planned for the remaining races. So we will continue to push
hard right to the end of the season."
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