| Toyota Saturday Web Report |
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| 18.03.2006 |
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Panasonic Toyota Racing has made strong progress in Malaysia just a week after
a tough start to the new grand prix season in Bahrain. The team still faces a
testing race in the oppressive humidity of Sepang, however, after Ralf Schumacher
qualified 10th and Jarno Trulli 13th. A number of engine changes, mean that Jarno
will line up 9th on the grid while Ralf, who suffered a Toyota v8 failure, will
start from the back.
Unfortunately for Ralf, he suffered his engine problem in the second 15-minute
knock-out qualifying session after already setting a 1m 34.586s lap that was good
enough to get him into the top 10 shoot-out. Sadly, he was unable to take part.
Felipe Massa and David Coulthard are both starting the second race of the season
with new Ferrari engines and will have 10-place penalties on the grid having replaced
their statutory two-race engines after the Bahrain Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher
has also changed his engine in Malaysia, meaning that the seven-time champion
will start 14th – 10 places behind his fourth place qualifying performance.
“My engine let go without warning,” Schumacher explained. “In
Bahrain we did quite a big mileage and the same was true here because we no longer
have a third car on Friday and we wanted to learn a bit more about our package
after our problems in the opening race. Sepang is quite a challenging track for
engines and it’s a pity but this kind of thing can easily happen. The positive
thing is that the times were very close here and we were able to perform nearer
to our potential.”
Trulli added: “I think everyone in the team is glad that we are showing
a better level of performance than in Bahrain as we learn more about how the tyres
work. It could be a long race in very high temperatures tomorrow, challenging
for both cars and drivers. We will be targeting a points finish.”
Pole position was claimed by Mild Seven Renault F1 Team driver Giancarlo Fisichella
(1m 33.840s) ahead of Jenson Button’s Honda (1m 33.986s). The Williams F1
Team cars of Nico Rosberg (1m 34.626s) and Mark Webber (1m 34.672s) were split
by Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari (1m 34.668s), with the Team McLaren Mercedes
cars of Juan Pablo Montoya (1m 34.916s) and Kimi Raikkonen (1m 34.983s) heading
the Renault of defending champion Fernando Alonso (1m 35.747s).
Technical Director Mike Gascoyne commented: “Unfortunately for Ralf, it’s
a case of starting from the back rather than losing 10 places, which is a bit
disappointing. It’s also a shame that he didn’t have the opportunity
to do the shoot-out and potentially challenge for a place in the top six. We are
more competitive than in Bahrain and about where we expected before the season
started. Jarno lost some set-up time due to a team decision, so we take the blame!”
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| 1 |
G. Fisichella
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Renault |
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| 2 |
J. Button
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Honda |
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| 3 |
N. Rosberg
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Williams |
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| 4 |
M.Schumacher
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Ferrari |
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| 5 |
M. Webber
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Williams |
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| 6 |
J. Montoya
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McLaren |
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| 7 |
K. Raikkonen
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McLaren |
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| 8 |
F. Alonso
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Renault |
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more.. |
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