Spanish Grand Prix - Race Round-Up
SPAIN FADE
Panasonic Toyota Racing suffered a difficult afternoon's
work in today's Spanish Grand Prix. Both Ralf Schumacher and
Jarno Trulli qualified on the front four rows but both were
relatively slow off the line and during the first stint Ralf
was directly behind Jarno. On lap 16 he attempted a manoeuvre
into the first corner and the pair touched, with Jarno's right
rear tyre knocking off Ralf's front wing. After pitting for
a replacement, Ralf suffered a suspected electronics problem
that led to his retirement. Jarno battled hard for the rest
of the race and brought the car home in an eventual 10th place.
Toyota will spend this week testing at France's Paul Ricard
circuit with its new TF106B car, which is scheduled to make
its race debut at the Monaco Grand Prix in a fortnight's time.
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/04)
Race Classification: 10th
Gap: +1 lap (from race winner)
Qualifying Classification: 7th
Time: 1m15.976s (+1.328s in Session 3)
Grid: 7th
"Early on when Ralf and I were racing we were on similar
strategies. But I was on old tyres and suffering from graining
and he was quicker. When he made the move on me I just took
my usual driving line. I didn't deliberately close the door
and I didn't do anything unusual. I didn't even feel the collision
and the first time I noticed that we had touched was when
Ralf disappeared from my mirrors. No one was to blame, it
just goes down as a racing incident. Toyota allows its drivers
to race on equal footing but I'm really sorry because he is
my team-mate and no one wants to have any problems inside
the team. So I hope we can clarify the situation and I'm sure
we will. I suffered no damage and my second stint was much
more competitive but the problems returned on the last stint.
So we have to analyse the data to see what happened. Then
I will need to do a lot more work to set this car up for my
driving style."
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/05)
Race Classification: DNF
Qualifying Classification: 6th
Time: 1m15.885s (+1.237s in Session 3)
Grid: 6th
"At Toyota we go to the grid as racing drivers and in
a race we are allowed to overtake each other. So that means
that sometimes things like this can happen. Today I was following
Jarno closely during the first stint and I tried to pass him
on the entry to the first corner on lap 16. It was normal
racing but we touched this time. It wasn't a heavy impact
but unfortunately I lost my front wing when I hit his tyres
so I had to pit for a replacement. That left me well down
the field and I then suffered an electronic problem which
led to my retirement. All in all it was a day to forget. But
at least we were quick in qualifying so we have to look to
return to the points in Monaco."
Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal
"It looks like we will have to spend a lot of time analysing
what went wrong today. On Friday and Saturday the car, the
engine and the tyres were all working well and things were
looking good. But today's race pace ended up very similar
to what we had last week at the Nürburgring and we have
to understand why we could not race at the speed of the top
teams. First we have to learn why our starts were so poor
because that was one of the causes of the issues we had in
the race. We also have to analyse Jarno's car performance
to find out why he struggled for the second race in a row.
We will need to investigate the causes when we arrive back
in Cologne. Finally we have to understand why our two drivers
had a collision. At Toyota our philosophy is very much based
around racing. We are a race team and that means our drivers
have to be free to race - but with one limit. Based on the
results of our investigations into everything that happened
today we will seek to improve for the next race. We will have
a busy evening and a busy week ahead."
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