Thank you for your continued support. Here is my report from the legendary Silverstone Circuit, home of the British Grand Prix.

We tested the true strength of the TF106B at Silverstone-a circuit completely different in nature than Monaco

After the conclusion of the Monaco Grand Prix, we participated in joint testing at Barcelona. The main thrust of our testing was to gear up for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Barcelona circuit is quite similar to Silverstone, with many medium- and high-speed corners. Our earlier testing at Paul Ricard was also designed around Silverstone, but this round of tests immediately prior to the British Grand Prix allowed us to make some final adjustments, including tests of the latest tire specifications. At the same time, we also continued our testing in advance of the races in Canada and America.

Removing the nose cone provides a good view of the makeup of the TF106B suspension. While the differences in the angle of the push rods can be seen even when the car is moving, here you can see that the keel has been removed from the bottom of the monocoque, and the cross-sectional shape of the nose has been squared off.

Since we had to perform some maintenance work on our race cars in the Panasonic Toyota Racing team factory to prepare for the races, we used the TF106/06 T car and the TF106/05 car in our testing, driven by Ricardo Zonta and Olivier Panis.

The TF106B we brought to Silverstone this year was a standard downforce specification, having removed several of the aero parts we used at the Monaco Grand Prix where we wanted high downforce. Besides aerodynamics, we haven't made any significant mechanical changes since Monaco, but we did replace the hydraulic system pumps that caused the heartbreaking retirement in Monaco. The engines in both cars are the ones we used in Monaco.

With a rough track surface, the Silverstone Circuit is notoriously tough on tires. The B Spec was developed to draw out the best performance in our tires, and we feel that this is a race that will test the true power of the TF106B, much more so than Monaco. In this respect, I really hope we will be able to battle under dry conditions on Sunday.

A smooth setup process leading into the second race for the B Spec

Since we didn't participate in the April joint tests conducted at Silverstone, we took time during the morning to not only run our normal installation laps (confirming car functions), but we also had Jarno Trulli run two measurement laps as well. Unfortunately, the furious winds on this first day at Silverstone made for poor course conditions. After he finished his laps, Jarno commented that "grip was even worse than I anticipated." With this news, we worked on car settings for both Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher during the afternoon.

Given these conditions, our first order of business during the free practice session in the afternoon was to confirm that our setting changes were moving us in the right direction. Once that task was complete, we continued to make incremental setup changes, and then conducted long runs after the cars were balanced.

	Ralf had a very smooth grand prix week leading up to qualifying. Unfortunately, the Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers have been taking turns in sharing bad luck with car trouble and accidents. At Silverstone, Ralf was forced to retire in the opening minutes of the race.

The prior race at Monaco was the debut of the B Spec. Accordingly, we had many items to take care of during the first day's free practice session there, and some items were checked in a fairly 'slam-bang' fashion. At Silverstone, however, we were able to take time to move smoothly through the settings process. We were completely confident that both cars would make it into the top ten in qualifying, and that we would qualify as a team in our best position this season, with at least one car higher than P6, our previous best this year.

Missing our best grid position by a razor-thin margin; but a great promise for the race

During Friday we were able to complete all of the testing we needed to make a final tire selection for qualifying and the race. Accordingly, we used the free practice session on Saturday morning to put on a set of used tires of the same spec we planned on racing with to conduct fine tuning before the race. Just to be safe, at the end of the session we put on another set of used tires of a different spec to confirm lap time trends. At that point, we made our final tire selection going into qualifying.

Unfortunately, Jarno experienced engine trouble as he was making his first attack lap during the first qualifying period. Once Jarno started his hot lap, we could see abnormalities in the telemetry data. We instructed Jarno to pit-in immediately, but the car started spewing white smoke on pit road. We are still not completely sure what went wrong, but there was no doubt that the trouble was with the engine itself, so we were forced to replace the engine before the Sunday race. This was quite disappointing for the team and for Jarno, since he had been driving so well the entire week, and the car had been performing splendidly.

The extra wings and other aero parts necessary for the urban street circuit at Monaco have been removed for the TF106B brought to the Silverstone Circuit. While Monaco called for a special downforce package, Panasonic Toyota Racing used a more standard aerodynamic specification for the British Grand Prix.

While we have experienced our share of troubles this season, we haven't repeated the same trouble twice. It is a fact, though, that we have been dogged by car issues since the San Marino GP, and our highest priority right now is to improve our reliability.

Ralf's results were almost exactly in line with our expectations. Grip during qualifying appeared to be somewhat lower than we anticipated, but considering the amount of fuel on board, I think we were able to capture a qualifying position that gave us great hope for the race. The only issue here for further consideration was whether we could have used two sets of new tires during the final qualifying period.

We selected two different Bridgestone specs for each car, and we were looking forward to the race results, particularly for Ralf, who had an excellent chance to finish at the top. Jarno's car was 'dialed in' as well, and we were excited to see how far he would be able to improve his position during the race.

Despite a lack of points, we confirmed the potential of the TF106B

There really isn't much to say about Ralf's race. At the start, we got caught from behind. We have had start issues twice in a row, at both Spain and Monaco, so we tried a few things to give us a better start off the line at Silverstone, but the changes didn't work out in the end. Through the first corner Ralf experienced a heavy traffic, and he was bumped by Scott Speed (Toro Rosso) going into the high-speed S corner, and then came into contact with Mark Webber (Williams) as Ralf was attempting to recover his line.

Jarno had a comparatively favorable start off the grid. While he wasn't able to overtake going into the first corner, he then started overtaking cars one by one, climbing to P13 by the end of the first lap. But Silverstone is a course that is both tough on tires as well as unforgiving of heavy fuel loads, which means that results can be significantly influenced by the pace of the cars in front. I think this affected Jarno throughout the race. I can't say that I am disappointed that Jarno was able to finish P11 after starting at the back of the grid, but it's regrettable that circumstances didn't allow him to finish a bit higher.

	While the race results showed Panasonic Toyota Racing finishing P11, the car demonstrated stable performance throughout the race, confirming the effects of the new specification changes. In particular, having overcome the issue of widely varying pace through different stints should play a big role in the rest of the races this season.

One of our goals going into this grand prix was to get a good idea of the potential of the B Spec car-something we really couldn't do at the previous race in Monaco. Under actual racing conditions, we had been experiencing widely varying pace differences during different stints in the same race. But as you could see from Jarno's lap times at Silverstone, the pace of each stint here was very stable. Jarno seemed satisfied with the B Spec, saying at the end of the race that "traction was especially good in Sector 3."

Looking at the entirety of our results, I think we came away with some good news for Panasonic Toyota Racing, even though we weren't able to capture any points. We definitely confirmed that the TF106B has enormous potential. We will be doing everything in our power to link these results to the next two races in North America, and I hope you all continue to provide the fantastic support you have given Panasonic Toyota Racing so far this season.