US Grand Prix – Preview
INDIANA’S TEMPLE OF ZOOM
Fresh from its points finish in Sunday’s Canadian Grand
Prix, the Panasonic Toyota Racing team is flying south on
the short trip from Montreal to Indianapolis for the second
race of the North American double-header. The Indianapolis
Motor Speedway is the most historic and evocative venue in
American motor racing and has hosted the US Grand Prix since
2000. The modern F1 circuit features a twisty infield section
before taking in one corner of the famous banked oval. The
Toyota team has recorded some strong results at the venue
and Jarno Trulli took a fine 4th place last year after battling
his way through from the back of the field. This season has
been a testing one so far for Toyota but it will look to make
the most of its trip to the US and score more points this
weekend.
Ralf Schumacher (Car 11): “As the
home of American motor racing, Indianapolis is a special venue
and it has a special atmosphere to go with it. Unfortunately
it has never been a very lucky track for me and I have had
a couple of incidents that I would prefer to forget. Now I
will look to put those behind me with a more positive visit
to the venue. The main challenge of the Speedway’s F1
circuit is to balance the set-up of the car. We have to reach
a good top speed along the banked start-finish straight into
the first corner while keeping the car stable through the
slow and twisty infield section. This season has been a struggle
for me but I remain confident that we can turn our form around.
We scored a point at Montreal and Toyota has a strong record
from its races at Indianapolis so we will hope to give the
team a boost with a good result on Sunday.”
Jarno Trulli (Car 12): “Since I’ve
been at Toyota our car has always been competitive at Indianapolis.
In 2005 I took pole position and last year I finished 4th
despite starting from the pit lane. The Speedway plays host
to one of the most important races in the world so it is a
special place to drive. You can really see how the people
are passionate about motor sport. I enjoy the atmosphere both
at the circuit and in the town because everyone is so friendly.
The Formula 1 track is not particularly technical but it is
slippery and we work hard on the mechanical grip in the slow
corners to allow us to take off downforce for straight-line
speed. We’ve been having a difficult season in 2007
and the Canadian Grand Prix was a very hard race for me but
now I’m hoping for a better weekend’s work.”
Pascal Vasselon – Senior General Manager Chassis:
“Indianapolis is best described as two circuits in one.
Part of the lap is taken on the oval section with around 23
seconds of full throttle. The rest takes place on the twisty
infield section. That obviously leads to a major compromise
when it comes to setting up the cars. When you do the calculations
you see that you achieve similar lap times no matter how much
downforce you have. If you run with very high downforce it
helps in the infield but makes you slow on the straight. With
low downforce the opposite applies. During the race you clearly
have to be quick on the straights in order to pass and defend
your position so you run low downforce. It’s one of
the hardest circuits of the year for rear tyre wear largely
because of the acceleration from the infield section onto
the banking. We are not concerned that the issue we faced
with the front suspension during practice for the Canadian
Grand Prix will reappear. Turn 8 at Montreal is unique and
we will now have enough time to rectify the issue. We will
head to Indianapolis looking to break into the points again
to send us away from North America on a positive note.”
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