British Grand Prix - Qualifying Round-Up
BY BECKETTS HOT
Panasonic Toyota Racing heads into Sunday's British Grand
Prix with mixed results from today's qualifying sessions on
another sweltering day at Silverstone. Ralf Schumacher did
well to make it into Session 3 and he will line up 7th tomorrow
after a fine last lap. But Jarno Trulli was less fortunate,
failing to complete a single flying lap because of an engine
problem. The team will change the engine for tomorrow's race
but the Italian will have the hardest of battles from the
back of the grid. The race is likely to be far from typical
as the British summer continues to fail to live up to expectations.
Today was another glorious day of sunshine with temperatures
up to 30 degrees Celsius and more of the same is expected
tomorrow. After qualifying there was a special treat for Toyota
as legendary Liverpool footballer Ian Rush joined the throngs
in the motorhome to comment on England's first World Cup match
against Paraguay.
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/07B)
PROVISIONAL GRID: 7th
Free Practice Session 3: 19th, 12 laps
Lap Time: 1m24.386s (+3.467s)
Qualifying Session 1: 14th, 7 laps
Lap Time: 1m22.886s (+1.868s)
Qualifying Session 2: 10th, 6 laps
Lap Time: 1m21.043s (+0.772s)
Qualifying Session 3: 7th, 15 laps
Lap Time: 1m21.073s (+0.820s)
"We can be very satisfied with what we achieved today.
We expected to be somewhere between 6th and 10th so we managed
to secure a good position. The car was really good, too. I
struggled for grip yesterday and also this morning, as with
many others here. It wasn't perfect for me in the first two
sessions but as qualifying went on the guys got it right so
thanks to them. My last run was much better and we had a lot
of fuel on board so we're pretty pleased. As in many other
circuits in Formula 1 it is a bit difficult to overtake here
but we are confident about our strategy so we are looking
forward to tomorrow."
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/08B)
PROVISIONAL GRID: 22nd
Free Practice Session 3: 16th, 13 laps
Lap Time: 1m23.459s (+2.540s)
Qualifying Session 1: 22nd, 2 laps
No lap time
"Unfortunately I could not even record a time in qualifying
today because I had an engine problem on my first flying lap.
I just noticed smoke coming out of the back and that was the
end of my afternoon's work. It means I will be starting at
the back of the grid tomorrow, which is a particular pity
because our new TF106B was going well here, as it did in Monaco.
Yesterday we were competitive and we were confident after
this morning because we didn't use any new tyres. It will
be a very difficult race tomorrow because it's practically
impossible to overtake around here. Still, I will stay focused,
push as hard as I can and just keep hoping my fortunes will
soon turn around."
Pascal Vasselon - Senior General Manager Chassis
"That was a difficult qualifying session in terms of
emotion. After yesterday's practice we were confident we would
be competitive today, and it was part of the strategy that
we did not run new tyres this morning. But obviously everything
got off on the wrong foot with Jarno's engine failure. We
are still investigating the cause of Jarno's problem but we
will change his engine for tomorrow and he will start at the
back. But the car's pace was strong and Ralf put together
a great lap in the last minute of qualifying, so congratulations
to him for that. We are now fairly confident that the race
will be dry. So based on the running so far and Ralf's lap
today he is in a very good position for tomorrow."
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