Australian Grand Prix – Free Practice Round-Up
Friday 16 March 2007
DOWN UNDER STREET
The 2007 Formula One season began today for Panasonic Toyota
Racing with a rain-affected day of practice for the Australian
Grand Prix. This year Friday free practice has been extended
to two 90-minute sessions so there was extra time for the
drivers to get a feel for the TF107. An early shower ensured
a wet track for most of the morning’s running around
the streets of Melbourne’s Albert Park. The conditions
improved apart from intermittent drizzle in the afternoon
but there was one lengthy interruption for a red flag. Race
drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher recorded the 12th
and 16th fastest times respectively. The team will now analyse
today’s data in preparation for tomorrow’s qualifying
and Sunday’s race.
Jarno Trulli (Car 12, Chassis TF107/04)
First Session 22nd 9 laps completed Lap Time: 1m 44.130s
(+14.916s)
Second Session 12th 33 laps completed Lap Time: 1m 28.921s
(+1.568s)
“It’s good to be back racing again with a new
year and a new challenge. There was not much grip out there
in the morning but the afternoon session was trouble-free.
So that was a positive day and I’m looking forward to
tomorrow. We have had a hard winter of testing but as the
weekend progresses we will build up a clearer picture of where
we stand. The new rules for Friday practice are much better
for the drivers and for the teams but especially for the spectators
who can finally see the cars running, which is what matters
most.”
Ralf Schumacher (Car 11, Chassis TF107/03)
First Session 20th 9 laps completed Lap Time: 1m 39.550s
(+10.336s)
Second Session 16th 26 laps completed Lap Time: 1m 29.574s
(+2.221s)
“It’s always difficult to say where you stand
on Friday but that was a decent afternoon of work. Other than
the break for the red flag we didn’t have any problems
and we worked through our programme. The conditions were variable
but that was not such a problem as a little drizzle doesn’t
affect the performance. The weather should now get better
through the weekend but it will stay on our mind because we
all know it can completely change within an hour in Melbourne.
We’ve had a mixed winter of testing so this weekend
will be useful to find out exactly where we have to target
our work.”
Dieter Gass – Chief Engineer Race and Test
“With the weather conditions and the red flag this
afternoon it was not an easy day’s work. It was the
same for everybody but it meant that we couldn’t really
make the most of the extended sessions. You have your tyre
programme mapped out but today’s conditions mixed everything
up and meant you couldn’t use all the available time.
Still, we did running with both tyre specs, along with the
wet tyres. Now we need to look at the data because the tyre
behaviour is very important for race strategy this year since
you have to use both tyre compounds. We still have a lot of
work to do for tomorrow.”
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