Saturday: The roller coaster for Toyota in Germany

Here are two races in a row after Silverstone three weeks ago where Toyota is not at the top of its game. The reason is simple, and like Brawn GP, it is struggling to bring its tires up to temperature on tracks where it is not more than 25°C on the track. However, the last practice sessions this morning were encouraging with the 7th and 12th fastest times for Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock.

In qualifying, it was a setback, the German in front of his home crowd got stuck in Q1 with only the 19th position. The Italian was caught off guard in Q2 by the rain, not having the right tires, and will start 14th tomorrow. The team is looking forward to warmer regions like Hungary to regain their form.

Jarno Trulli – 7th and 14th:

« The weather didn’t help us today. It was very windy and cold, which didn’t suit our car, so unfortunately, we struggled to heat the tires. We were still reasonably competitive, and Q1 was possible without much difficulty if the rain hadn’t intervened. Towards the end of Q2, we didn’t have the right tires at the right time, so it wasn’t possible to get into the top 10. Obviously, it’s frustrating to qualify in 14th position because I’m increasingly getting used to fighting in the top six. We have to wait for tomorrow’s race and see what happens. »

Timo Glock – 12th and 19th:

« It’s certainly a disappointing result that I didn’t expect for my home Grand Prix. The weather was too cold for us, as since Silverstone, I’ve been struggling to get the most out of the tires on one lap. I don’t know if it’s due to the temperatures or something else as well. The reason is not clear to me and we need to work on it. It’s really a shame because during qualifying, we had rain and I’m generally very good in wet conditions. Maybe we’ll have a bit of rain again tomorrow, which could give me a chance to achieve a good result. We’ll see. »

Pascal Vasselon – Deputy General Manager of Chassis:

We did not expect this poor result. So far, the weekend has been very good with trouble-free practice sessions for both cars. The setup was good but obviously, we failed to take advantage of the changing conditions in qualifying. Timo [Glock] locked his rear wheels with the super-softs in Q1 and we switched to dry tires too late for Jarno [Trulli] in Q2. It’s a disappointing result given the progress made this season, but anything can happen in the race. We have prepared our setup to cope with the possibility of rain, which could once again play a major role.