Chinese Grand Prix - Free Practice Round-Up
RAIN STOPPED PLAY
Panasonic Toyota Racing's preparations for Sunday's Chinese
Grand Prix began today with an interrupted Friday of practice
around the Shanghai International Circuit. The skies around
the track were overcast for practice and it began to drizzle
halfway into the second session. That meant that Toyota had
a limited day's work on the TF106B, which features a new aerodynamic
package here in China. After installation laps in the morning
session, race drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher brought
their afternoon programmes forward and collected as much data
as possible before the expected shower. Now the team will
work hard overnight analysing everything to make the tyre
choice for qualifying and the race.
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/10B)
First Session Classification: 21st, 2 laps completed
No lap time
Second Session Classification: 17th, 14 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m38.888s (+3.349s)
"Given that we had very little time available for running
before the rain arrived, that was a reasonable afternoon of
practice. We obviously have less data than usual, but it's
the same for everyone. Tomorrow morning will be busy but hopefully
we can still chase a good result on Sunday. Monza was a disappointing
weekend for us but apart from that we have shown consistent
improvements throughout the season. We have some updates on
the car here and if we can return to the level of performance
we had in Turkey I am optimistic for the last three races."
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/08B)
First Session Classification: 20th, 2 laps completed
No lap time
Second Session Classification: 18th, 11 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m38.959s (+3.420s)
"There's not much to say about today's session as I
only had time to complete one long run. The track was quite
dirty so we had a lot of graining, but that should improve
as the weekend goes on. We still have a lot of work to do
on set-up tomorrow morning but I remain pretty confident because
our car has improved a lot over the course of the season.
We will now aim to achieve our best results of the year over
these last few races but we still have to see how competitive
we can be here. If our pace is consistent then we can hope
for a good race on Sunday."
Dieter Gass – Chief Engineer Race and Test
"Our weather forecast had predicted rain for the afternoon
session, so that is why we brought forward our usual programme
and went out at the very start of the hour. As it turned out
the track conditions were acceptable and despite the limited
running time we collected some valuable information for the
tyre choice. We know that this is one of the circuits with
the highest grip evolution as the weekend goes on and you
could already see the track getting quicker this morning.
In the dirty conditions we saw a lot of graining on all the
cars, but the track is not yet in optimum condition and that
should reduce once the circuit rubbers in. We have a brand
new aerodynamics package here in Shanghai, featuring a new
front wing, a new engine cover and a new floor, so we will
look to take advantage of that over the next two days."
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