Arai Report - Rd.12 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix - Arai Report
31.08.2009
Thank you for your support over the weekend. After a four-week vacation, the F1 World Championship was back with two races in as many weeks. On the heels of last week’s European Grand Prix in Valencia, this weekend we were at Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian GP. Spa-Francorchamps is actually quite close to Cologne, home of the TMG factory. As with the German GP, we are always a little more on edge at a race so close to our second home. So, without further ado, here is my report from the Belgian GP.
The TF109 aero profile is quite compatible with Spa; even higher expectations for a strong result
Spa is a unique circuit among those on the schedule this year, featuring the famous “Eau Rouge” corner where lateral G forces are combined with vertical G forces. The TF109, however, has been made from the start to race at circuits like Spa without any special considerations. The team brought a low-downforce specification to the Belgian Grand Prix.
The European GP was very disappointing, particularly because we weren’t able to show how strong we truly are as a team. Looking at the lap times during the actual race, we knew our car had every bit as much pace as the others. The issue was not being able to maximize the potential of the car during qualifying.
Spa-Francorchamps was the stage for the Belgian GP. With several mid- to high-speed corners distributed throughout, Spa is considered to be a technically challenging circuit. To run fast here, a team must come to the race with a highly refined aero setup. We struggled with lack of grip at the Valencia street circuit, but Spa-Francorchamps is a circuit particularly compatible with the aerodynamic advantages inherent in the TF109. We came to Belgium expecting to be able to turn in a very strong performance.
Racing for the second consecutive weekend, we didn’t make any significant changes to the car, but we did bring a new rear wing developed specifically for Spa. The front wing had also been designed specifically for this circuit, but we actually produced and used it earlier than planned in the prior week’s European GP. This race was the second using this particular front wing
design.
Braving the “Spa Weather,” we take the top two times on Day One
Taking the lessons learned in Valencia, the team changed its approach to free practice, collecting much more data. Both cars were able to record top times, making for a solid first day of practice. Even so, there were still areas to improve on Jarno and Timo’s cars, and the team was braced for more work prior to qualifying.
As forecast, the rains fell on Spa-Francorchamps Friday morning. Jarno (Trulli) recorded the top time during the first practice session in the 30-minute window prior to the rain, but we weren’t sure of the true value of that time. But considering that Jarno’s lap time of 1:49.675 out of the gate Friday morning was almost identical to his best time during the first practice session last year, we went into Friday afternoon practice feeling somewhat reassured about the condition of the car.
Out of the 90 minutes of the morning session on Friday, 60 minutes were conducted under wet conditions. We changed our program accordingly as a dry track greeted us for the afternoon practice session. Even so, we were able to get through almost all of the program steps we had planned for the first day of the weekend. Somewhere during the process of collecting data, Timo (Glock) and Jarno were able to score P2 and P7 on the time charts, respectively, giving us solid momentum going into Saturday and Sunday. Our car was quick in Valencia, too, but we were well aware of the fact that we weren’t able to fully demonstrate our true speed in qualifying at the European GP. While Timo’s Session 2 time was ultimately bested, we felt that being within .01 seconds of the fastest time was a good showing, especially considering the track conditions under which Timo recorded his time.
Our setup was still incomplete at that point, leaving many areas to improve. Specifically, we were fast through Sector 2, but we were losing time in Turn 1 and at the exit of the chicane. We continued to coordinate with the TMG factory throughout Friday, determined to take measures that would put both of our cars in the top 10 on the grid come Sunday afternoon.
Both cars advance to Q3 for the first time in four races; Jarno secures P2, just 0.087 seconds off pole
The team reduced downforce slightly for qualifying, and Jarno finished Q1, Q2 and Q3 in P2, P1 and P2, respectively. Throughout the weekend, the team took a good number of laps using a race fuel load. The car demonstrated solid performance, and expectations were high for a good result in the race.
With the car settled to a certain degree on Friday, we went into Saturday without making any changes to our aerodynamic settings. The decision appeared to be the correct one, and we were able to turn in steadily improving lap times Saturday morning. We did, however, make some late mechanical adjustments to improve stability under braking.
The other difficult choice going in to qualifying was which tire compound to use—the medium-hard or the soft. Normally, the softer of the two compounds provides better grip, and is the best choice for hot laps in qualifying; however, this weekend the softer of the two compounds produced a sensation of failing grip in the rear of the car. This unusual symptom meant that we couldn’t simply go with the softer tire as usual. Consequently, we decided to do hot laps on both the medium and soft tires during Q1 (first session of knock-out qualifying). Ultimately, the soft tires performed without any problems. With Q2 being five minutes shorter than Q1, and considering the extra time it would take to do two out laps during the session (the medium tire was likely to produce its best time in the third lap around the circuit), we chose to run both Q2 hot laps on the soft tires. Our decision worked out for the best, putting both cars into Q3 for the first time since the British GP.
Looking at the Q2 results, we decided to use the soft tires for Q3 as well. To confirm the performance of the soft tires on the fuel load we would be using at the start of the race, we tested a used set of softs at the outset of Q3 prior to running a hot lap. The drivers reported back that the soft compound performed well, so we put both cars on a fresh set of soft tires and sent them back onto the circuit.
Jarno missed pole position by the slimmest of margins, but turned in a strong attack lap according to plan. Timo would be the first to say that he wasn’t completely happy with his lap, but he still qualified P7. Having secured solid positions on the starting grid, it was the first time in quite a while that we were able to look forward to a strong race with confidence.
The Turn 1 melee and an accident in the pits combine to let a prime chance escape our grasp
Unavoidably caught up in the Turn 1 confusion, the first corner turned out to be the end of Jarno’s race. The team’s string of bad luck continued when Timo, who had successfully moved up in position, was held up in the pits due to fuel rig trouble. The disappointing weekend resulted in no championship points for the team.
With such a good starting position, the race result was all the more disappointing. By no means was Jarno’s start off the grid poor, but the fight for position in Turn 1 forced Jarno to slow. The car in front pulled up short, closing the door on Jarno and resulting in a collision. The damage to Jarno’s front wing was enough to require him to come into the pits on lap one of the race. We changed Jarno’s front wing, and loaded enough fuel to allow him to finish the race on one pit stop. Unfortunately—perhaps in connection with the front wing damage—Jarno began experiencing problems with his brakes. Taking the safer option, we brought Jarno back in to the pits, and retired the car from the race.
Meanwhile, Timo got off to a good start, weaving through the trouble in Turn 1, and pulling up to P5 right behind Jarno on the first lap. In the opening minute of the race, Timo was in a position to move up even further. As luck would have it, we had trouble with the fuel rig during Timo’s first pit stop. We had to switch over to the backup rig, losing about seven seconds in the process. By the time Timo was back out on the circuit, he had fallen to P13 and out of any chance to score championship points.
This year’s Belgian Grand Prix ended in disappointment for us, although we were able to meet our objectives in qualifying, which had been an issue for the past few races. Now, we have to put together a solid qualifying and a strong race result. The Italian Grand Prix will take place in two weeks, and Panasonic Toyota Racing will be ready to fight for a top position. Thank you for your continued support.
Noritoshi Arai at Spa-Francorchamps. The team turned in an improved qualifying performance at the Belgian Grand Prix, with both cars qualifying in the top 10. Jarno and Timo started from P2 and P7, respectively, but a string of bad luck kept the team from winning any championship points. The goal at Monza in two weeks is to link strong performances in both qualifying and race.
