30/07/2002

Allan McNish reflects on Germany

Some day soon I hope I’m going to be able to start off by saying that everything went perfectly and I scored points! But unfortunately the new Hockenheim did not bring any change in my fortunes. On the positive side Mika made it to the finish and ended a recent run of unreliability.

From a personal perspective I was pleased with my own personal performance and speed relative to Mika but frustrated that I was out of the race at around one-third distance with a loss of hydraulic pressure.

I was disappointed that we qualified further back than we thought we could have done with me 17th and Mika 19th. We were actually 8th and 10th in Saturday’s free practice and I think it only goes to prove how difficult it was to achieve a workable chassis/tyre balance. Even some of the more experienced teams were caught out.

There was a big difference between the weather conditions on Friday and Saturday morning compared with the much greater heat of qualifying and the race. Temperature and its effect on the track surface and the tyres changes the handling more than people appreciate and it’s a bit like shooting at a constantly moving target.

On race day for instance we had oversteer and made a front wing change on the grid then both Mika and I made another wing change at the first pit stop. Sadly for me I didn’t get any further after losing hydraulic pressure exiting the pitlane. The few flames that everybody saw were caused by leaking hydraulic fluid.

I’d actually made a good start and made up places on the first lap. I managed to actually catch a big group of cars and the plan was to stop early get a clear track and pass a few of them. It was shame that I didn’t get the opportunity.

I liked the new circuit and found that a section of corners were quite interesting to drive but as the grip picked up that section became easier and I suppose you’d have to say that the new Hockenheim is like a number of other tracks which share similar characteristics. A ‘modern venue ' I think is what they call it. It’s good for racing but not necessarily a challenging track.

Off the track there was more ‘silly season' gossip and it had been reported by some media that I will be replaced at Panasonic Toyota Racing before the end of the season. That was picked up and printed by others the way these things are and it started to escalate. There was no truth to it and the subject hadn’t even been discussed but these things are distracting when everyone is trying to get their heads down and concentrate on the job in hand.

We now have the mid season break before the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend kicks off on August 16 and I am going to take the opportunity to have a few days holiday. Then it’s off to Italy for a special training programme with the team doctor - Riccardo Ceccarelli - before we get back down to the serious business at the Hungaroring.