Assessment: Too Close for Points at Toyota

Everything suggested a satisfying race for Jarno Trulli and a more difficult race for Timo Glock. At the checkered flag, it was the opposite, as the German, in front of his home crowd, narrowly missed the points, finishing 9th. The Italian ended up in 17th place.

The latter saw his race come to an end during the first laps as all the cars were very close together. A wing problem had to be fixed as quickly as possible, and that’s how all hope vanished. Glock, on the other hand, suffered from traffic since only two drivers retired. Points might have been possible otherwise.

Jarno Trulli – 17th:

« The race ended for me at the first corner. There were several cars fighting to gain positions, but I suddenly saw another car pass in front of me and jump over my front wing because there was no space. I couldn’t see that part of my wing, but I felt something was wrong. I went through the pits and the team changed what was needed. Every time I could catch up a bit, I was always caught in traffic and couldn’t do anything. When I had a clear track in front of me later in the race, I clocked the 2nd fastest lap, but it was too late. »

Timo Glock – 9th:

« I am reasonably satisfied with my performance today because I started the race from the pits and finished ninth on a circuit where overtaking is very difficult. We had a good strategy after yesterday’s qualifying, but unfortunately, I got caught in traffic in the first stint which cost me time. I only had four laps without traffic all day, but when I had the track to myself, I was fast. Without this traffic, I would have had a greater chance of scoring points. In the last stint, I was faster than Kovalainen, but I simply couldn’t overtake him. I pushed very hard with two overtaking attempts but nothing worked. The point to improve is the qualifying session to then have a better race. We will work on it for the next Grand Prix. »

Tadashi Yamashina – Team Principal:

Unfortunately, we couldn’t do more in the race today, despite the car’s potential to achieve a much better result. It was decided for us in the qualifying and unfortunately, it was extremely difficult to finish in the points even though the car performed very well. As proof, Trulli achieved the second fastest lap. We now need to work for the Hungarian Grand Prix, where we will be in the race for a significantly better result. The Hungaroring is a track that could suit our cars and we have a good record historically speaking. We will do our best to get back in the leading pack of teams.