Assessment: Toyota misses the boat and loses ground in China

Timo Glock started from the pits after changing his gearbox and managed to come back to 7th place in the rain to score two points. The German damaged his front wing but salvaged some honor for the team, as Trulli was unable to finish the race due to an accident.

The Italian had high hopes starting in the top 10. However, he was hit by Robert Kubica. With the rear of the TF109 completely destroyed, the Italian had to head to the pits and retire.

Jarno Trulli – Retirement:

« It wasn’t a good day for me. The conditions were very challenging, there was a lot of water and a lot of aquaplaning. When the safety car left, I got off to a good start, but gradually I was losing grip. Then on lap 17, I felt a big push, and then I noticed that my rear wing had disappeared. I tried to continue and made it back to my pit, but the damage was too significant to continue. »

« Nevertheless, my pace yesterday shows that we are ready to fight for wins, and now we must hope for better positions in Bahrain next weekend. »

Timo Glock – 7th:

Ultimately, we scored more points from the pit stops than on the track, so we can be satisfied with that. It was a tough race. When I started, I couldn’t see anything, it’s quite surprising to drive blindly everywhere. I was always careful, but at one point I damaged my front wing by touching Nick [Heidfeld]. So I had to stop in the pit, and then when I came out, I was blocked by Räikkönen, and it was impossible to overtake him immediately. So in the end, 7th place is not so bad.

Tadashi Yamashina – Director:

« Timo [Glock] had a bad start to the Grand Prix by starting from the pits, and then he was last twice but each time he showed great fighting spirit to come back and never give up. He brings back two good points. »

« Jarno [Trulli] for his part struggled to take advantage of his good qualifying position, we will analyze the data to see why the car was reacting that way. I am sure he will do his best to be on the podium in the next race. We are still aiming to win a race and we will fight again in Bahrain next week. »