Australian Grand Prix - Race Round-Up
Today's Weather: Hot and sunny, air 36-37C, track 47-51C
Timo Glock (Car 12, Chassis TF108-04)
Summary: Battled well on one-stop strategy until heavy accident
at turn 12 on lap 44 Race Classification: DNF
Qualifying Classification: 9th Lap Time: 1m 29.593s (+2.879s
in Q3) Grid: 18th
"That was a hard way to return to racing in F1. Given
our starting position this was always going to be a difficult
afternoon's work. I had contact with two other cars at the
start but despite our heavy fuel load we were able to make
up some ground in the early part of the race. Still, the car
felt a bit strange in terms of understeer and that's what
we have to work on to improve the car. After the pit stop
it was hard work to drive and my race ended with the crash.
I feel fine but I'm disappointed and we will hope for better
fortunes next week."
Jarno Trulli (Car 11, Chassis TF108-02)
Summary: Raced as high as 5th before retiring with a battery
problem at his pit stop Race Classification: DNF Qualifying
Classification: 6th Lap Time: 1m 28.527s (+1.813s in Q3) Grid:
6th
"From early on in the race the battery was too hot. Then
when I stopped in the pits it just gave up. That is a pity
because the car felt good and I was doing pretty well. I was
running comfortably in the points so it is unfortunate to
lose out on a scoring start to the year. Still, the car is
better than last year's and there is performance to come.
Here we didn't look too strong because we didn't work the
tyres perfectly but even so we could have had a good result.
So I'm sure we can fight well this year and I hope to be stronger
in Malaysia."
Tadashi Yamashina - Team Principal
"This was a tough afternoon for every team because it
was the first race and there were such high temperatures.
But under these conditions Toyota must show our teamwork and
I'm so disappointed that Jarno performed so well but he suffered
a reliability issue with his battery. We must analyse the
fault to make sure it doesn't happen again. Timo will have
gained a lot of experience from his first race. Fortunately
he's fine and I'm very glad about that. We will now do our
best to improve at the next race."
What's Next?
The next race comes in just a week's time with the Malaysian
Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur. Stay up to date with all the latest
news from www.toyota-f1-world.com, where you will find a technical
preview with Pascal Vasselon and Timo Glock's Australian Grand
Prix debrief on Tuesday. A VNR feature and accompanying text
about coping with heat at the Malaysian Grand Prix will be
released on Monday.
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