Formula One news

Ralf pleased with progress at Toyota

Ralf Schumacher goes into the summer break pleased with how his season has been going recently. The Toyota driver came under some stark criticism for a poor start to the season but has turned things around in the past few grands prix, qualifying in the top ten in the last three races after a six-race Q3 drought, and rounding things off with well-deserved sixth place at Budapest last weekend.

Schumacher puts the upturn in performance down to how the car is improving.

"We were already quite quick in the USA and Montreal in June but for various reasons things didn't quite come together," said Schumacher. "We were unlucky with the safety car and so on, but the potential was there. We have got both cars into the top ten in qualifying in recent races and I think it's going in the right direction."

When asked how Toyota can close the gap to the top teams, the German highlighted the team's lack of experience.

"There is no easy answer," Schumacher added. "When you look at the most successful teams, they all have an enormous amount of experience. There is no short cut to that, obviously, but everyone is working hard and is tremendously motivated. We may not have had the results that we would have liked this year but we have improved during the season and we will keep pushing hard."

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