Monaco Grand Prix - Free Practice Round-Up
Thursday 25 May 2006
GRIP SEARCH
Panasonic Toyota Racing today began preparations for Sunday's
glamorous grand prix around the twisting streets of Monaco.
This weekend Toyota is running its new TF106B, which features
a mechanical evolution at the front end of the car that will
enable further aerodynamic updates as the season progresses.
Toyota's Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli both had solid days
of practice today, putting in over 75 laps between them as
they prepare for qualifying and the race. As ever at Monaco,
grip was at a premium on this first Thursday and there were
a number of red flags in the afternoon session. But both drivers
will look to capitalise as the track continues to rubber in
over the rest of the weekend.
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/08B)
First Session Classification: 15th, 11 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m18.703s (+1.991s)
Second Session Classification: 11th, 25 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m17.325s (+1.418s)
"It is difficult to draw too many conclusions after
what was a typical Thursday of practice at Monaco. The grip
level was low and it did not improve much during the day.
But we managed quite a lot of laps without too much trouble.
We tried several different set-ups in order to improve the
car but there is still a lot of work to do. Because this is
a street circuit, the tarmac always changes a lot over the
course of the weekend. So you have to follow that and adjust
your set-up accordingly to get the most out of the car for
qualifying and the race. Experience is especially important
at this track because there is simply no margin for error.
Qualifying is always crucial because it is so difficult to
overtake but Saturday will be tough because there will be
22 cars out there all looking for a clear lap."
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/07B)
First Session Classification: 16th, 14 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m19.021s (+2.309s)
Second Session Classification: 18th, 26 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m17.793s (+1.886s)
"That was a reasonable day of practice for us but finding
grip was a struggle. We still have some work to do on set-up
but that is always the case around Monaco because the track
surface changes so much. On Thursday here the lap times are
less relevant than most other days of the season. This is
a narrow track and the challenge is to make it through the
weekend without incident. So it is still too early to tell
how the TF106B is performing. The new car is a mechanical
evolution so it does not have a completely new aero package
but it represents a step forward and should bring us results
over the coming races."
Dieter Gass - Chief Engineer Race and Test
"We had a difficult pair of practice sessions today -
as usual on the first Thursday at Monaco. Both drivers reported
a lack of grip as you would expect around these streets. It
did improve over the course of the day, but not a lot. The
track took a long time to rubber in and in the afternoon it
was Mission Impossible to find a clean lap and to come away
with clear results. Nevertheless we persevered and we carried
out all the work that we had planned. We now have to look
at the data to see where we go from here. What is certain
is that the track will be completely different again on Saturday."
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