Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying Round-Up
BLAST FROM THE PAST
Panasonic Toyota Racing suffered an extremely frustrating
qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway,
with Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher earning 13th and 15th
spots respectively on the grid. The team arrived at the circuit
with rain pouring and low cloud, in scenes reminiscent of
the very first World Championship Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji
Speedway in 1976. Final practice was delayed by 30 minutes
because of the conditions and, when the session finally did
start, only a few minutes of running were possible before
the weather once more intervened. When qualifying began, Jarno
and Ralf initially used extreme wet Bridgestone Potenza tyres
but quickly switched to wets and both were quick enough to
progress to Q2. However, Ralf collided with Sakon Yamamoto
at turn 10 on his final lap, damaging his car and ruling him
out of the next session. In Q2, Jarno set the 14th fastest
time, although he moves up one place due to a penalty for
a competitor. The team will now work on strategy for tomorrow’s
race and fight to get the best possible result.
Jarno Trulli (Car 12, Chassis TF107/04) PROVISIONAL
GRID: 13th
Free Practice Session 3 3rd Lap Time: 1m 36.150s (+3.404s)
Laps: 3
Q1 11th Lap Time: 1m 26.711s (+1.222s) Laps: 11
Q2 14th Lap Time: 1m 26.253s (+1.500s) Laps: 10
“We pushed as hard as possible. The first session was
pretty good in terms of car balance and grip. The conditions
were acceptable but there was a lot of spray. We started with
a completely wet track but in the middle of the second session
it dried up a bit. I was actually more competitive in the
wet conditions than at the end with a drier track. Tyre wear
and the tyre pressures getting a little high at the end of
the session made it hard, even though the track itself was
getting quicker if you look at other people’s lap times.
We just couldn’t set a better time. It is unfortunate
and certainly disappointing but we will just have to see what
we can do in the race. I hope we can get a better result tomorrow.”
Ralf Schumacher (Car 11, Chassis TF107/05) PROVISIONAL
GRID: 15th
Free Practice Session 3 n/a Lap Time: No lap time Laps: 2
Q1 14th Lap Time: 1m 27.191s (+1.702s) Laps: 10
Q2 16th Lap Time: No lap time Laps: 0
“The conditions out there were not too bad but visibility
was quite poor. In general it wasn’t a problem for us
to drive but there was obviously not much grip and with the
water on track there was a lot of spray. There’s not
a lot to say about the incident with Yamamoto at the end of
Q1. I thought he had seen me. He moved to the outside and
seemed to decide fairly late to turn in – I guess he
hadn’t seen me. I expected him to leave the door open
and when he didn’t that was it really. The car felt
okay so it was disappointing not to be able to take part in
Q2. It will be hard from where we are on the grid but I will
do my best and hopefully make up some positions.”
Pascal Vasselon – Senior General Manager Chassis
“Conditions were not ideal today but they were the
same for everyone. Our qualifying session did not go well
from Q1, with Ralf’s crash. He spent most of the session
in traffic and even considering that he was fast enough to
make it into Q2. But he had a misunderstanding with Yamamoto
on his last lap when he thought Yamamoto had seen him. So
we lost Ralf, although the car is not badly damaged and it
will be repaired for the race. Jarno also got into Q2 but
on his last run the combination of tyre wear and pressures
being a little bit too high meant he wasn’t able to
improve sufficiently to go into Q3. That was it – a
bad result obviously. For the race, there is a high risk of
rain tomorrow so anything can happen and we will do everything
we can to improve.”
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