Formula One news
Frustrating day for Toyota drivers
29 September 2007 / Results / PhotosPanasonic Toyota Racing suffered an extremely frustrating qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway, with Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher earning 13th and 15th spots respectively on the grid.
When qualifying began, Jarno and Ralf initially used extreme wet Bridgestone Potenza tyres but quickly switched to wets and both were quick enough to progress to Q2. However, Ralf collided with Sakon Yamamoto at turn 10 on his final lap, damaging his car and ruling him out of the next session. In Q2, Jarno set the 14th fastest time, although he moves up one place due to a penalty for a competitor. The team will now work on strategy for tomorrow's race and fight to get the best possible result.
Jarno Trulli will start Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix from P13 as Nico Rosberg will go move down 10 places due to his grid penalty. "We pushed as hard as possible," Trulli said. "The first session was pretty good in terms of car balance and grip. The conditions were acceptable but there was a lot of spray. We started with a completely wet track but in the middle of the second session it dried up a bit. I was actually more competitive in the wet conditions than at the end with a drier track. Tyre wear and the tyre pressures getting a little high at the end of the session made it hard, even though the track itself was getting quicker if you look at other people's lap times. We just couldn't set a better time. It is unfortunate and certainly disappointing but we will just have to see what we can do in the race. I hope we can get a better result tomorrow."
For team-mate Ralf qualifying was even worse. He collided in his final lap in Q1 with Yamamoto ending his session earlier than expected. "The conditions out there were not too bad but visibility was quite poor," said Ralf Schumacher. "In general it wasn't a problem for us to drive but there was obviously not much grip and with the water on track there was a lot of spray. There's not a lot to say about the incident with Yamamoto at the end of Q1. I thought he had seen me. He moved to the outside and seemed to decide fairly late to turn in - I guess he hadn't seen me. I expected him to leave the door open and when he didn't that was it really. The car felt okay so it was disappointing not to be able to take part in Q2. It will be hard from where we are on the grid but I will do my best and hopefully make up some positions."
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