The diffuser issue is finally put to rest; a 100% focus on the race

The team added a new fin to the turning vane, which increases aerodynamic effects by calming the air turbulence coming off the front wheels and moving it to the back of the car. Look for the horizontal black wing installed under the upright turning vane at the rear of the front tyre.

On April 14, the International Court of Appeal deliberated about the diffuser we had been using on our car. Our diffuser had been the subject of a protest at the Australian GP. On the 15th, the court confirmed that our diffuser conformed with the rules of F1, which allowed us to head into the Chinese GP with a load off of our minds.
Going into the third race of the season, we made several improvements planned for the Chinese GP. The noticeable change was a new fin added to the turning vane installed toward the front of the side pontoons. Under the car, we made some changes to the suspension, improving the traction out of low-speed corners?an issue we had been fighting during the first two races of the season.
This year, the Chinese Grand Prix was moved up from the fall to the spring. We already have five years of data from this track, so we didn’t anticipate any particular difficulty in prepping our setup. The difference this year is that we were on slick tyres and a softer super-soft and medium tyre compound, instead of the medium and hard compounds in prior years. We made it a point to keep a careful eye on the tyre situation.

New parts pass with flying colors; first day of practice has us looking forward to a pole position

The team changed the suspension to improve the car’s performance coming out of low-speed corners. On Friday, the team was able to confirm that the softer tyre compounds and other numerous changes performed as expected.

This was the first time that a super-soft tyre compound would be used at the Shanghai International Circuit. Actually giving the super-softs a try, we found them to be comparatively stable, which was a great relief to us all. We conducted a comparison of aerodynamic setups on Friday morning, as well as checking the performance of our suspension improvements. We were able to get even more out of the changes than we expected, which allowed us to go through afternoon practice with both the new aero and suspension package.
The only unfortunate incident was trouble with Jarno’s standard ECU (engine control unit) during morning free practice. As provided in the regulations, all teams started using the same ECU specification beginning last year, but the system would unexpectedly reset out on the course, forcing us to replace the unit. Because of the change, Jarno (Trulli) had an abbreviated practice. At the same time, teammate Timo (Glock) had to stay in the pit garage for a time to allow us to check his ECU.
Except for that incident, the new items we brought all performed better than expected, making for a very productive first day of practice. While we weren’t at the top of the time sheets, we felt like we were making great progress, and expected that we would be fighting for pole position in our Saturday time attacks.

Frustrated by changing track conditions; a disappointing qualifying result

Jarno secured a solid starting position after qualifying, but rain during the race caused increasingly poor grip. Ultimately, another car hit Jarno from behind, damaging his car, and forcing him from the race.

With about 15 minutes left in Saturday free practice, Jarno switched over to a set of new tyres, and set the top time on the sheets. With more rubber coming on the track, one car bested his time, and Jarno finished the session at P2. Attributing the difference in times to changing conditions more than anything else, we went into qualifying with tremendous confidence.
However, after the start of qualifying, Jarno experienced a sudden lack of grip. This was the exact same situation that happened in Australia during the first race of the year, with the car sliding in each and every corner. We couldn’t narrow the issue down to a single cause, but we suspected that the track temperature rising in excess of 40℃ was a factor.
In any event, this was why we quickly found ourselves into a tough qualifying battle right from Q1. Both of our cars were able to struggle through to the top 15 on their final attack lap on super-soft tyres, moving on to Q2?just the slimmest of margins between us and our competition. Timo missed out on advancing to Q3 by .1 seconds, which was a disappointment. During morning free practice, Timo had trouble with his gear box, which we had to replace. The resulting five-spot penalty on the grid made the qualifying result all the more disappointing. Without the barest of slips in turn 13 on his last attack lap, Timo would certainly have made it into the top 10.
Despite the struggles, Jarno’s ability to show our true colors during his last attack lap during Q3 was a light at the end of the tunnel for the team. Jarno was starting from P6 on the grid, but there was a high likelihood that the cars in front would be running different strategies. Given the fact that we had plenty of speed for a podium finish, we set our sites on a third consecutive podium.

Timo: From pit lane to a P7 finish

Timo selected to start the race from the pit lane. His car was struck by another as well, nearly completely ruining team race strategy. Timo compared the grueling race to driving with a blindfold on, but he scored vitally important points for Panasonic Toyota Racing.

Sunday turned out to be a storm-tossed affair for Panasonic Toyota Racing.
With a high chance of rain for Sunday’s race, we considered that our best bet would be to start Timo from the pit lane with a heavy fuel load, rather than having him start from back in the grid. As of Saturday, we had come to believe that several other teams would be adopting the same type of strategy, so we went more aggressive in our approach, deciding to start Timo with a lighter fuel load. Just prior to the race, we decided that our strategy wouldn’t work in the heavier rain. At that point, we changed our strategy to have Timo start the race from the pit lane in order to load more fuel on board, keeping him out of the dummy grid.
Our strategy itself worked very well, with Timo rising as high as P9 in lap 22. Unfortunately, contact with another car on lap 13 forced Timo into pits earlier than planned to change his damaged front nose wing, which destroyed most of the advantages of our chosen strategy. The mechanics did an excellent job of quickly changing Timo’s front nose. Timo drove tenaciously to the end, capturing a P7 finish.
Jarno, starting from P6 behind the safety car, struggled with getting heat into the tyres after the race was finally underway, keeping him from increasing his pace. And then, he was hit from behind by another car. The team brought Jarno into the pits to attempt to repair his rear wing. One look at the base of Jarno’s rear wing, and we could see that the attaching lock was damaged. Our only choice was to retire the car from the race.
While we were able to score points in the race, we had higher goals and expectations from our improved parts. As such, the Chinese GP was quite a disappointing result. The Bahrain GP is just one week away, and we have already moved beyond our disappointment of this weekend. Panasonic Toyota Racing will be fighting for a victory in Bahrain, and ask for your continued support.