French Grand Prix - Race Round-Up
FOURTH MAJEURE
Panasonic Toyota Racing has recorded its second consecutive
fourth-place finish after Ralf Schumacher took five points
at today's French Grand Prix. Running on a two-stop strategy
Ralf battled strongly throughout. He narrowly missed out on
the podium despite losing time with a problem with his left
rear wheel nut at his first pit stop on lap 22. It was another
day of mixed emotions for the team as Jarno Trulli was forced
to retire at half distance due to a problem with his brakes.
Jarno had been running strongly throughout the first stint
and was confident he could have battled for the podium. Indeed,
for three laps during the first round of pit stops the car
in front really was a Toyota, as first Jarno and then Ralf
led a grand prix for the first time in 2006. The eventual
haul of five points takes the team up to 5th place in the
constructors' championship with a total of 21. Toyota will
now move to Spain's Jerez circuit next week as it tests in
preparation for the German Grand Prix at the end of July.
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/09B)
Race Classification: 4th
Gap: +27.212s (from race winner)
Qualifying Classification: 5th
Time: 1m16.091s (+0.598s in Session 3)
Grid: 5th
"We can be very satisfied with what we achieved today.
It's a pity that we had a problem with the wheel nut at the
first pit stop because we could probably have made the podium
but these things happen. It was also a pity that Jarno had
his problem but apart from that it was a very good weekend.
We expected the car to be competitive because that is the
way it has looked ever since Friday practice. The race was
good for us too - the car was quick and the Bridgestone tyres
were very good too. Our tyres have had the edge all weekend
and we made a very good choice aimed at this two-stop strategy
for the race. Our package has improved at every race recently
so we can now look forward to maintaining this kind of performance
for the rest of the season."
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/08B)
Race Classification: DNF
Qualifying Classification: 4th
Time: 1m16.036s (+0.543s in Session 3)
Grid: 4th
"That was a real pity because everything was running
smoothly in the first stint. The car was quick and our Bridgestone
tyres were great. Because I was on a two-stop strategy while
everyone else was on three stops I was confident that I could
have fought for the podium. Unfortunately after the first
pit stop I felt a slight drop-off from the engine. Soon after
that the brake pedal started getting longer and longer and
it was too dangerous to continue so I had to come in. So again
it was very unlucky and I'll add it to a long list of things
that have happened this season. I've had some good races this
year but points have been hard to find. But you can't blame
the team because it is never the same problem twice. Our pace
has been great all weekend so despite the difficulties we
are definitely on the up. Step by step we are starting to
see the light at the end of the tunnel."
Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal
"It is difficult not to be disappointed today because
even if that was one of our better finishes of the year, both
of our cars had the pace to be on the podium today. We made
a very good tyre choice and because of the consistency of
our Bridgestone tyres we were able to opt for a two-stop strategy
today, which was the correct move. That, combined with the
progress we have made on the car, led to a very competitive
race weekend from us. Everything ran smoothly from Friday
practice right through qualifying yesterday but in the end
we failed to make the podium because we are still having some
reliability issues. Today we had a problem with the left rear
wheel nut at Ralf's pit stop which cost us more than ten seconds
while Jarno had to retire with a leak on the braking system.
So we have to say sorry to Jarno and well done to Ralf who
did a very good drive. We are going in the right direction
and we will push to develop further. Our pace is improving
with every race and we are still chasing our first win this
season."
|
