Formula One news

Toyota drivers fail to finish

Panasonic Toyota Racing suffered a desperately disappointing end to the 2006 season after both Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli retired from promising positions in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

Both drivers made strong starts, with Jarno winning a wheel to wheel battle with Fernando Alonso to hold third as Ralf battled with the BMW Saubers in the first corner. An accident further back brought out the safety car on lap two and when the race resumed four laps later Jarno again kept Alonso at bay and started to put pressure on second place as Ralf pushed to move back into the points.

However, the team's race was over soon after when a problem with the central element of the rear suspension forced both Jarno and Ralf to pull into the pits and retire, on laps 11 and 10 respectively. The team will now focus its energies on next season when it hopes to bounce back after a difficult and challenging 2006.

Jarno Trulli commented: "There was a problem with the central element on the rear suspension. The car was jumping around a lot and I was not fully in control - probably the bumps here at Interlagos made it worse. It is very unfortunate because I was having a strong race. After the safety car period, my tyres were just getting up to temperature and I was attacking Raikkonen. I am very disappointed because my car was extremely quick this weekend and we had a good strategy today."

Ralf Schumacher said: "That was the hardest possible way to finish the season. We made a reasonable start and were initially in good shape. Unfortunately, immediately after the restart following the safety car period, we developed a problem at the rear of the car with the central element on the suspension. That made the car impossible to drive. It was not safe to continue like that so I had to retire. It was the same problem for both cars and the same as the problem Jarno had in qualifying at Indianapolis earlier in the season. It is a particular pity because things were looking good for the team."

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