Thank you all for your support. Takahashi here at the Monaco GP with a report on final qualifying and the race.

This year, the Monaco GP was a much rougher race than I expected. Riding high expectations, Jarno eventually placed 10th for our Panasonic Toyota Racing team, but I can’t express how pleased and proud I am of Ralf, who overcame a penalty and a crash during qualifying to finish in the points at 6th. I hope we can carry this attitude and momentum back home with us to Germany and the next GP at Nurburgring. McLaren still seems to be the team to beat, but I have every confidence that we will be able to catch them.

• Jarno jumps 2 positions to P5 after final qualifying!!
Monaco has a reputation as a course where it is almost impossible to overtake. This means that qualifying well is of vital importance. Unfortunately, we had our share of stumbles during qualifying this year. Even so, Jarno kept his cool during final qualifying, improving two positions to reach P5 on the starting grid. I can only describe his Sunday morning qualifying lap as “perfection.” Granted, fuel and tire consumption had been minimal, but our strategy was to run a one-pit race, which meant we had a pretty heavy load of fuel in Jarno’s car for qualifying. His performance was a testament to his tenacity.

Because we already knew Ralf would be starting from the back of the grid, we decided not to do a flying lap during qualifying on Sunday morning, having him pit in after only one lap. I got the impression that only Williams and Sauber had gone light on fuel for Sunday qualifying. Surprisingly enough, it appeared that most teams were setting up for a one-pit race strategy, although Renault looked strong enough to be fine with either a one-pit or two-pit race. It is so tough to overtake here in Monaco that the race really hangs on qualifying and race strategy.

• First half goes well, but our miscalculation was the one-pit by Renault
At the start, Jarno did a splendid job of overtaking Webber, and the first stage formed up as we planned. Ralf started at the back. As expected, he was frustrated by the slower cars in front of him, but he gradually improved his position over the first stage of the race. On lap 25, the Minardi spun out on Mirabeau, essentially jamming the course. When the safety car came out, both Williams and Renault pitted for fuel. We stayed out, choosing to go with our original strategy. Looking back even now, I think we made the proper decision. At that time, we projected that Williams and Renault were on a two-pit strategy. We could not have guessed that Renault would pit only that one time. That turned out to be a big miscalculation on our part.
We were able to save fuel with the safety car out, so we extended Jarno a bit, having him come in on the 39th lap. Coming out of the pits, Jarno fell in behind Renault’s Fisichella, which is where our plans started going awry. Renault pitted early, but since they were on a one-pit race, they were concerned about fuel, dropping the pace significantly over the last half of the race. What’s more, we could see from the pits that the Renault machines were having trouble with rear tire wear. That combination forced a slower pace. We should have been able to get in front of both Williams cars after their second pit, but Renault spoiled our plans. Jarno made a nice move on the entrance to the hairpin, going up on the kerb to overtake the fading Fisichella, but the move may have been more than the car could handle.

Right after overtaking Fisichella, Jarno told us over the wireless that his rear suspension was acting unusual. The data didn’t show and problems, but we brought Jarno into the pits to take a look at the tires and rear suspension. We didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, but Jarno still felt uneasy, dropping his pace.

Ralf, shaking hands with TMG Chairman Tsutomu Tomita after the race.

With Jarno falling out of contention for points, Ralf continued to drive hard, finishing in the points at 6th. I can’t tell you how happy we all are for him. At the end, Ralf was racing his older brother, Michael Schumacher, up to the checkered flag. There were a few moments where it looked like they might even touch tires. The difference was 0.04 seconds, and they kept fighting to the last.

Although we came into Monaco realizing that our cars were not perfect for the circuit, we are extremely pleased that Ralf was able to finish 6th in the race today. I think we may have even gained more confidence as a team about our chances on this circuit. At any rate, who could believe how fast McLaren was today? I guess it’s not totally unbelievable that winning the pole and driving fast will get you a win, but Renault was a surprise. They had a rough time with their tires, which was very unexpected. Up to today’s race, I would have told you Renault had a slight advantage over us in the area of tires. At any rate, our biggest rival right now is McLaren, although Ferrari is still an ominous presence. In today’s race, Ferrari was both quick and stable. I don’t think they could have expected a better finish here at Monaco, but on a regular circuit I would say that they ran well enough to have finished very high.

I mentioned in my last GP report two weeks ago that Panasonic Toyota Racing was the only team with two cars not to have a DNF result yet, and we continued our record through today. I have to express my earnest thanks to our tire and parts suppliers for their excellent engineering capabilities. At the same time, I would say that behind this record is the potent combination of engine reliability, chassis and mechanical excellence, and the human factor that makes everything go.

• New aerodynamics and a new engine for Nurburgring, home of TMG!
The next GP is at Nurbrugring, the circuit closest to the TMG headquarters in Cologne, Germany. With a quick phone call, we’ll be able to get new parts within an hour, if required. Of course, we’ll be bringing a new aero package to the race, but we’re excited to unveil our new spec engine. Unfortunately, we had to change out Ralf’s engine after his accident during qualifying here at Monaco, so his car will have to race with today’s engine. Jarno’s car will be the only one getting the new spec engine for the next race. We’ll be machining the aerodynamic parts to the last, since we will be so close to home. We can get parts in time, even if they aren’t finished until Friday morning. Until we get our first win, we can’t relax even a minute, and the next GP is only a week away.

We at Panasonic Toyota Racing thank all of our fans for your continued support. Until next time…