Jarno Trulli scored a fabulous fourth place for Panasonic Toyota
Racing in the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis as the F1 World
Championship entered its second half.

Trulli endured a difficult Saturday when his hopes were thwarted by a suspension problem that eliminated him in the first session of qualifying. It required the team to make repairs to the car between the end of qualifying and the start of the race. Under the F1 sporting regulations, it meant that Trulli had to start the race from the pit lane.

“That’s not the ideal situation of course,” Jarno said, “but I was confident that we had a quick car here at Indianapolis and it is one of the circuits where you can overtake. The incident at the first corner meant a Safety Car, which worked in my favour but I knew we were looking good because when the Safety Car went back in I could quite easily maintain the pace of those ahead despite a very heavy one-stop fuel load.

“I’m never satisfied and I was starting to hope that I could even get onto the podium but I suppose I should be content to finish fourth, less than 5s behind a Renault when I have come from the back! It is a good boost for the team for the rest of the year and we really seem to be making progress.”

Team mate Ralf Schumacher started eighth on the grid on a two-stop strategy. He pitted on laps 30 and 53 and was on course to finish right behind Jarno until a mechanical problem led to retirement with just 11 of the 73 laps remaining.

“That was a tough race and it was very hot out there,” said Schumacher. “But I was still on course for a very strong points finish in fifth place, ahead of Fernando Alonso, until I had to come into the pits. I was having braking problems and the team discovered that we had a bearing failure on the left front wheel. The points would have been very welcome after our tough first half of the season but at least our performance level was very encouraging.”

The race was dominated by Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, who scored its first 1-2 finish since 2004 as Michael Schumacher led home team mate Felipe Massa and narrowed Alonso’s championship lead to 19 points with eight races remaining. Giancarlo Fisichella finished third for Mild Seven Renault, ahead of Jarno’s TF106B, Alonso’s Renault and the Lucky Strike Honda of Rubens Barrichello. David Coulthard crossed the line seventh for Red Bull Racing while Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi took the final point for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

After the difficulties of 2005, the American fans at Indianapolis watched in stunned silence as no fewer than seven cars were eliminated at the first corner in a multiple accident that saw Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber barrel-roll five times into the gravel trap. Thankfully all drivers emerged uninjured but Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Mark Webber, home hero Scott Speed, Christian Klien, Franck Montagny and Heidfeld were all incapable of racing on.

Toyota’s Pascal Vasselon summarised: “Another retirement for Ralf was a real shame because in view of his strategy and the fact that he spent time behind Barrichello in the early laps, he had a very good race. We passed Alonso at the second pit stop and so the failure was quite tough to take. The track, with low tyre degradation, suited Jarno’s one-stop strategy and he did a superb job, missing out on a podium by just a few seconds.”

The championship now heads back to Europe and the French GP on July 16.