07.04.2008

Behind the scenes

They say that horse racing is the sport of kings and it was Timo who got the opportunity to visit the royal stables in Bahrain and see first-hand some thoroughbreds of the four legged rather than four-wheeled variety.

While not actually scared of the beasts, some of which were 18 hands high, Timo admitted that he is happy to stick with horsepower of the V8 kind. “They didn’t actually ask me to sit on one,” he smiled, “but I wouldn’t have wanted to because I remember trying a horse as a child and sliding straight off the other side! Give me a TF108 any day...”

The team’s third driver Kamui Kobayashi scored another victory in Sunday’s GP2 Asia race at Sakhir, after finishing third behind Romain Grosjean and Sebastien Buemi in race one on Saturday. Kamui, who won the Sunday race in Malaysia, now lies sixth in the GP2 Asia series, just six points behind second place. 

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The BMW Sauber team achieved its first ever pole position when Pole Robert Kubica set the fastest time in qualifying. Kubica reported too much wheelspin at the start, losing the first corner to Massa’s Ferrari. He then hit some oil at Turn 10 on lap two and was passed by Raikkonen. Showing strong pace thereafter, Kubica finished just 3.4s behind the second placed Ferrari and one position ahead of team-mate Nick Heidfeld. The team haul of 11 points was enough to move BMW Sauber into the lead of the constructors’ championship, one point ahead of Ferrari and two ahead of McLaren Mercedes. Panasonic Toyota Racing is in fifth place, with 8 points.

After failing to score in both the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix, Felipe Massa was a delighted winner of the Bahrain GP, his second successive victory at Sakhir. “You have ups and downs in life and I had some downs at the first two races,” Massa admitted. “They weren’t the first and they won’t be the last, so you just have to get on. It was great to come here, have everything go well from the start and to score my second win here and my first points in the championship.”

Heikki Kovalainen was the only McLaren Mercedes driver to score in Bahrain after Lewis Hamilton suffered a slow start when the anti-stall system kicked in on the grid. Hamilton then broke his front wing hitting the back of Fernando Alonso’s Renault. After a pit stop for a new nose, Hamilton finished in 13th position.
Mark Webber finished seventh for the second successive race for Red Bull Racing, crossing the line just 4.1s behind Jarno. “The midfield is very tight and the guys did a good job all weekend,” the Australian said. “I got my head down and spent the entire afternoon chasing the Toyota but we weren’t quite quick enough.”

RACE REPORT

Panasonic Toyota Racing scored points in its second consecutive race when Jarno Trulli finished sixth in the Bahrain Grand Prix, round three of the 2008 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. After a difficult start to the season in Australia and Malaysia, team-mate Timo Glock also drove a strong race to finish ninth, just one place out of the points.

Jarno kept up his excellent record of qualifying performances when he lined up seventh on the Sakhir grid, 0.9s behind pole position man Robert Kubica’s BMW Sauber. Timo started the race in 13th position.

“I made a good start and picked up a couple of places at the first corner,” explained Jarno, who was able to take advantage of a slow-starting Lewis Hamilton and also overtake Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber. Heidfeld repassed on lap two but Jarno kept pressing and was still a strong sixth behind the two Ferraris, two BMWs and Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren Mercedes when he made his first pit stop on lap 20.

After a strong middle stint, Jarno was not far away from jumping Kovalainen’s McLaren at the second stop on lap 43, then maintained his position to the end of the 57-lap race.

“I’m really pleased to have another consistent top six finish,” Jarno enthused. “We were right behind the top three teams and that was the most we could have expected. It’s a good boost for both myself and the team and even more incentive as we head for the Barcelona test in the three week gap before the European season starts in Spain.  I was briefly under a bit of pressure from Nico Rosberg early on but I knew the car was quick, well balanced and that we had a good strategy.”  

Timo moved into the top 10 by lap two and enjoyed battles with both Rosberg and world champion Fernando Alonso during a two-stop race which saw him pit on laps 24 and 44.

“It was all a bit interesting on the first lap with the guys crashing into each other on the oil in the first and middle sectors,” Timo said. “Happily I managed to avoid any involvement and it feels good to have got the experience of a full race distance under my belt after the short afternoon I had in Malaysia through no fault of my own. I was happy with the car overall, although a small gearbox glitch after my first stop cost me the opportunity to beat Rosberg and score the final point. It meant that I also had to defend pretty hard against Alonso and happily I was able to do that. I look forward to joining Jarno in the points soon.”

Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen scored a 1-2 for Ferrari, with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld third and fourth for BMW Sauber. Behind Kovalainen’s McLaren and Jarno’s TF108, Mark Webber’s Red Bull and Rosberg’s Williams claimed the final points.

Senior General Manager Chassis Pascal Vasselon said: “It was another strong performance from Jarno and again good for us to score strong points in a race where the attrition rate was low. Timo could also have scored a point had it not been for a minor gearbox issue after the first pit stop. That caused us to put him on a back-up strategy and without that he could have passed Nico Rosberg because we had four or five laps more fuel and Timo was quicker.”

After the first three ‘flyaway’ races, the world championship now heads back to Europe and the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona on April 27.