Timo Glock Profile

Timo Glock well and truly arrived in Formula 1 in 2008, marking himself out as a star of the future by equalling Panasonic Toyota Racing’s best-ever result and competing closely with his experienced team-mate Jarno Trulli.

Timo may have made his Formula 1 debut in 2004, as a stand-in at Jordan, but he came of age last year, having arrived at Toyota as GP2 Series champion.

His elevation to full-time Formula 1 driver concluded a process which saw Timo earn a brief Grand Prix baptism thanks to success in Formula BMW and German Formula 3 before then forging his reputation in Champ Cars and GP2.

That may seem a circuitous route to the top, but in Timo’s case it proved successful. “There were several points when things looked very tough for me,” he admits. “But at every point I told myself not to give up. I fought that adversity and my reward is to be racing in Formula 1.”

Winning the GP2 title was his passport back to Formula 1, but the sport, not to mention Timo the driver, had changed significantly since his Grand Prix debut. New regulations meant the cars were quicker and Timo had a greater reputation than he enjoyed during his Jordan year. But with that came greater expectation and he showed one of his most valuable characteristics immediately upon joining.

Ask any of the team present when Timo made his Toyota debut in Jerez on a cold December day in 2007 what their first impressions were of the new driver and the answer was unanimous: he works incredibly hard.

Those impressions were reinforced early in 2008 when Timo moved to Cologne to be close to his engineers at the factory. He explains: “I knew I had a lot of work to do because it’s not easy to adjust to a new team and a new car. It makes sense to live close to the factory because then I can spend more of my time working with the team to improve.”

His first taste of the TF108 came in January and from that moment on he set about doing the hard work necessary to compete on the same level as Jarno. He made great strides but even in the opening races of the season there was still work to do to catch up.

“I didn’t score points in the first few races; partly that was because we were still adapting the set-ups for my style and I was developing myself but there was also quite a bit of bad luck,” he says. “I had to develop myself as a driver and give my maximum to understand the TF108, adapting it to my driving style because I don’t like an understeering car.”

Ironically, it was Canada – where the TF108 was arguably at its least competitive all season – which saw the turning point for Timo in terms of results. A clever strategy and a battling drive in difficult conditions allowed Timo to lead the race briefly before holding off the Ferrari of World Championship-chasing Felipe Massa for fourth.

Despite ending in a painful accident, the German Grand Prix marked the start of a fine run of performances which made it clear to everyone that Timo was up and running in Formula 1. Immediately after that Hockenheim crash, he finished second in Hungary thanks to a prodigious performance. Now there was no doubting he has what it takes to succeed in Formula 1. “I feel I made a good step forward over the year and to be on the podium, with second place in Hungary, in my first full Formula 1 season was a perfect result,” he adds.

He rounded out the season by scoring more points than Jarno in the final eight races of the season, highlighting the fact that Panasonic Toyota Racing has one of the best driver line-ups in Formula 1 today.