How close we can catch up to our rivals is the key

Silverstone is a high-speed circuit, demanding a superior aerodynamic package. To date, Panasonic Toyota Racing has performed well at high-speed circuits; no major alterations were made, and the machine was adjusted based on on-track data.

We missed our goal of a podium finish at the Turkish GP two weeks ago by the barest of margins, finishing P4 in the race. Although disappointed, we were able to come back from the points shut-out we had been experiencing during the European Round. Like Istanbul, Silverstone is a high-speed circuit. Aerodynamically speaking, we didn’t make any significant changes—only some minor downforce adjustments.

Having said that, our car has been designed for producing efficient downforce, so we expected a fairly good compatibility between the TF109 and the Silverstone setup. As long as nothing untoward happened, we believed we would be fighting again for a spot on the podium. Even so, we knew that Red Bull is always strong at Silverstone; it wouldn’t be an easy race by any means.

The weather reports called for “mostly favorable” conditions during the race weekend. Still, Silverstone is famous for its quickly changing weather, and many races here require both overall competitiveness and good pit strategy. Accordingly, we came to this grand prix with perhaps a bit more nervous excitement than usual.

Struggling to get heat into the tires and to draw out performance in low ambient temperatures

Last year’s British GP was held in July, offering different track temperature profiles. Accordingly, the team conducted very detailed tracking of tire performance during practice. With low ambient temperatures over the weekend, the team struggled to get heat into both types of tires.

With both ambient and track temperatures low during Friday morning, both of our drivers had a hard time getting heat into the hard tire compound, which had been designed to perform at higher temperature ranges. Timo (Glock), in particular, complained of having no grip at all, having gone off-course during his in lap. Being Silverstone in June, after all, we expected a certain amount of challenges in this area; we focused more on data collection than car setup during Friday morning free practice.

The track temperature came up to nearly 30°C in the afternoon, at which point the hard tires started to work better, so we conducted comparisons of the hard and soft compounds during long runs. Silverstone marked the fourth race of the year using the hard/soft combination (Malaysia, Spain, and Turkey were the other three). Of course the weather and the circuit layout here was different than the other circuits, but we were able to get a fairly solid handle on the characteristics of the two types of tires. This was our biggest achievement for Friday.

As of the end of the first day of practice, Jarno was P8 on the time charts, while Timo was P13; however, these times didn’t reflect the best performance we could have made with the TF109. We had issues getting the heat into both types of tires. Being held up by cars in front, our pace dropped, immediately after which our tire temperatures came down. This situation prevented us from building quicker lap times steadily throughout our session.

Looking only at the time charts for Friday did not give us a true picture of how we were performing against the other teams, so we went into the second day of the weekend looking for a better qualifying result than we experienced at the Turkish GP.

Seeing a solid response in the cars; a close, but disappointing, final Q3 attack lap

Timo fought understeer, as well as challenges with tire heat, which combined to give him trouble with grip. Still, both drivers were able to make the top ten during qualifying. Here, the team knew that they could get all of the performance the car had to give.

Looking at data from Friday, we knew that the car was balanced, so we went into Saturday morning practice making almost no setup changes. The track was slippery early on in practice, partially owing to the rains earlier in the morning. As the rubber built up on the track during the second half of the session, we found the balance that we were looking for. By the end of Saturday morning practice, Jarno reported that his car setting was fine, telling us that the car was responding well.

Keeping this form, Jarno and Timo finished Q1 at P4 and P9, respectively. Both Jarno and Timo finished Q2 in the top ten, with Jarno at P3 and Timo at P10, successfully moving on to the final qualifying period. Unfortunately, the session ended without either of our drivers having made an attack lap to their satisfaction. Jarno lost speed in Turn 11 as one of the several gusts of wind on Saturday hit his car. Timo experienced understeer in Turn 7, which cost him time. Without these factors, I think Jarno would have qualified in the top three, and Timo would have made the top five, most likely. All in all, it was an extremely disappointing qualifying result.

Silverstone offers few strategic options; a slow start costs dearly

A mechanical issue cost Jarno position off the starting grid, but the team successfully made up the position in the first pit stop. Unfortunately, chances to overtake were few and far in between, leading to a disappointing result.

I think the end result of this year’s British GP was determined in the first few seconds of the race. Both of our drivers fell back several positions off the starting grid, but for different reasons. Timo started from P8, and fell back to P10. This wasn’t because of his start, which was fine, but rather because he was forced to the inside during the position fight off Turn 1, getting the short end of the stick. After his first pit stop, Timo was caught behind Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India), which kept Timo from increasing pace during the second stint, and leaving him out of the points.

As far as we can tell from the data, Jarno’s clutch slipped as he was getting off the grid from P4. We still haven’t identified the cause of the problem, but we plan on a full investigation when we get back to the factory. The issue cost Jarno three spots, putting him from P4 back to P7. We revised our strategy before the first pit stop, and successfully gained one position back. Still, Jarno’s car wasn’t as fast as we expected after the tire change, and we lost the position back to Jenson Button (Brawn GP) after the second pit stop.

Silverstone is traditionally hard on tires. Fuel load heavily influences lap times, as it does the sensitivity to weight. As such, the teams are really left to employ similar strategies, making qualifying for this grand prix even more important than usual. To return to the podium, we have to improve our qualifying performances.

The next race is the German GP, returning to the Nurburgring after two years. We consider this one of our home grand prix, as it is the track closest to our TMG headquarters. We ask for your continued support.