Showing the full power of the TF106B that we couldn't at the Japanese GP

It's hard to believe that it's already the final race of the season. The season-opening race in Bahrain seems like it was only just the other day, and the 18 races of the year have passed in the blink of an eye. The Brazilian GP is the last race of the year, and the most surprising thing to me was how cool the weather was when we landed in Sao Paolo. Being in the Southern Hemisphere, it is spring right now in Brazil, and the Brazilian GP is being held one month later in the year than last year, so I was expecting much warmer weather. The weather reports said that the weather should steadily improve going into Sunday, but even so, ambient temperatures will only be around 20ｺC, with the track temperature raising to no higher than 35ｺC. With the possible exception of Sunday, it will be a cool race weekend.

Given the evolution of the TF106 and the TF106B over the year, the fact that the car brought to the Japanese GP was practically another upgraded version, and the similar aerodynamic characteristics between Suzuka and Interlagos, Panasonic Toyota Racing brought basically the same car specification used in Japan to the Brazilian GP.

Our car is basically the same one we ran at the Japanese GP two weeks ago. No aero changes have been made. Compared to Suzuka, Interlagos is slightly faster at top speeds, but the aerodynamic requirements are fundamentally the same, so we hope to be able to show the same type of speed we showed during Suzuka qualifying. Our engines were on their first race at the Japanese GP, so we will be using the same ones here. These engines will be the ones we use for next year's homologation (certification) if they complete the entire race, so we want to see a very solid performance.

Predicting weather from Friday on; aiming for perfect tire selection

The main feature of the Interlagos circuit is the bumpiness of the track surface. During Friday's free practice, our main focus for car setup was how best to attack this problem. In particular, our strategy consisted of adjusting the front and rear suspension to combat the bumps. Today, both drivers repeated a cycle of pit ins/outs, during which we worked on adjustments.

	Senior General Manager Chassis Pascal Vasselon, in a discussion with a Bridgestone engineer. Tire selection was approached cautiously at first, due in part to the unstable nature of the weather between Friday and Saturday.

Another major point of our work during Friday free practice was to perform tire comparison tests. I thought that as of that point in the weekend we would have some trouble with tire selection. Not that there were any issues with the tires themselves; we just had a difficult time predicting the weather. Even the locals commented on how much cooler the weather was compared to usual spring temperatures. Of course, our tire choice would be different depending on whether we thought the weather would improve or take a turn for the worse. Since we don't have to make a tire selection until qualifying this year, our intent was to wait until the very last minute to see if we could figure out what the weather would be like Saturday and beyond. As of the end of the first day of the race weekend, I couldn't get a clear picture of how we stacked up against the other teams, but we didn't experience and trouble, and we were able to show some good speed from the start, so I would say we had a smooth first day at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Tire choice and car setup progress smoothly; securing second row after qualifying

By Friday evening, we had a pretty good idea about our tire selection, but we decided to try two different types of tires during Saturday morning's free practice for one more comparison and a final check. During the session we detected a clear difference in tire performance, and we were able to confidently predict comparably stable weather for Saturday afternoon through Sunday. In the end, our tire selection was fairly easy.

Prior to qualifying, the team was able to make a solid prediction about the weather, selecting the right tires for the conditions. Jarno qualified P3, and Ralf was just behind, qualifying P7. After a strong qualifying performance at the Japanese GP, Panasonic Toyota Racing was again able to demonstrate its one-lap speed.

However, we had yet to devise a perfect strategy against the Interlagos bumps as of Saturday morning. We had oversteer in the low-speed corners, and snapover (oversteer resulting from changes in the load on the front and rear tires) on the curbs. We used the time Saturday morning to continue making adjustments. Our times lagged somewhat during the morning session, but that was due to our use of used tires. All in all, we were confident going into qualifying.

I think afternoon qualifying vindicated our confidence. Both drivers continued on to the final period of qualifying, and Jarno captured P3, which truly made me happy. We won a spot on the podium in the final race last year, but our relative performance suffered down the stretch. This year, we haven't been able to capture strong results, but our performance during qualifying was very strong, and we all believed we would see great results in Sunday's race to close out the season.

Disappointment in not being able to link our speed to final results. Definite evolution in the TF106B.

The trouble Jarno experienced during qualifying at the United States Grand Prix affected both cars this time. The central element, a part of the rear suspension broke. We completely redesigned this part after the United States Grand Prix, and hadn't experienced any more trouble until Sunday, which was extremely disappointing. Compared to the other circuits, the track here in Brazil is very bumpy, which is likely one factor that contributed to the problem. Ultimately, though, experiencing the same problems with the same part means that we did not fully address the problem in the first place. In that respect, we have a lot of soul-searching to do.

Since both cars experience the mechanical failure in quick succession after the safety car came off the track, we suspected tire pressure was involved in the issue, but both cars were able to restart the race within an accepted level of performance, so we have decided this probably didn't affect the problem. We also had suspicions about the weight of the fuel load during the first stint of the race, but of course we started the race with the same fuel load used during qualifying, so it is hard for us to believe that this was a contributing factor. In any event, we weren't able to discover the cause of the problem at the circuit, so we will have to make a detailed investigation back at the factory, and design the appropriate countermeasure.

	Defending position off the starting grid, the team was able shrug off the nagging issue during the year, achieving a "good start" for the second race in a row. Unfortunately, mechanical troubles forced both cars to retire from the Brazilian GP after only 10 laps.

Apart from that, our one-lap speed during qualifying showed great improvements, after being a thorn in our side during the first part of the season, with Jarno finally capturing P3 on the grid. At times our starts had let us down, but in this race, both drivers were able to get off the line quickly. I think our performance has evolved quite a bit since the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, the lack of reliability, which has haunted us all year, reared its ugly head yet again, leaving us to conclude that we still have much work to do. But still, the ability to improve the car throughout the season has led to a high level of confidence among the team. Next year, we will absolutely bring a fast, strong car to the world championship.

The season ended without our being able to meet your expectations, but I want to thank you for your support during the year. We'lllook for you again next year, as you cheer on Panasonic Toyota Racing.