As I’m sure you all know, we won pole position at the United States Grand Prix, but weren’t able to compete due to some unfortunate circumstances. Our disappointment was compounded, since we had so much confidence in our drivers and machines on the Indianapolis circuit. I hope we can forget all of our frustrations with a strong performance here at Magny-Cours in France.

• The three chicanes are key to time strategy
Going into France, we made some aerodynamic improvements to the cars. We made changes in seven separate areas, including the engine cowl and brake ducts. Other than that, we didn’t make any significant changes. This time around, Ralf is the one with the fresh engine, and we didn’t make any big spec changes coming in. This is the “second” race for Jarno’s engine, but since we didn’t actually race in the U.S., his engine has only about 100km on it.

The Magny-Cours circuit features an extremely smooth track, with very few bumps. In that sense, I think our cars are well suited to the course. We can also gain from being able to lower the clearance on the cars. Our downforce package is very close to a high downforce setup. However, one troubling characteristic about this course is that track surface conditions change dramatically depending on weather. And since the track surface is black, it tends to heat up rather quickly when the sun comes out.

The three chicanes on this course are the keys for car setup. Turns 6 and 7, and Turns 11 and 12 are high-speed chicanes. You can really save some time if you can navigate these chicanes properly. The final chicane is quite different than the two high-speed chicanes, and calls for a setup somewhat contrary to the first two. In other words, if you want to go fast through the high-speed chicanes, you inevitably will make some sacrifices with respect to the final chicane. Driver talent can make up for some of the setup tradeoffs required by these differing chicane characteristics.

• Olivier shows spirit in front of his home fans in France
With all of the troubles we experienced in the U.S., I was happy just to have Friday finish without any big issues. All three of our drivers were able to run their programs without any problem. Since the track surface still hadn’t developed yet during the morning session, Jarno didn’t drive, and contented himself with just observing the others. At any rate, driving under those conditions really proves nothing, and there’s almost no benefit to be gained. I really have no complaints about Friday. We were able to obtain all of our tire data; Olivier was able to drive his laps; and pretty much everything progressed according to plan. With the course still slippery, it’s too early at this point to worry about car setup or balance; obviously, we still haven’t dialed in the balance setup for the final chicane.

The only real issue we were worried about was tire selection. Although we got all of the data, we felt like we couldn’t make a decision based solely on driver comments and feelings. We’ll wait to see what happens tomorrow and the day after.

For this GP, we have removed the exhaust pipe cover, leaving the pipe sticking out.

What do we expect for track conditions? According to the weather report, we’ll see rain on Saturday morning, and dry conditions for afternoon qualifying. The temperature is expected to rise Sunday, and the track surface could get as high as 50°C or more. The issue here is that the rain will remove a lot of the rubber that has built up on the track before the drivers take their attack laps. The race will start after the track temperature has risen, so our tire selection must include a calculation of the risk of heat blisters. The tires themselves seem to be standard Michelin issue. The prime tires offer stable long runs, and the option tires show good acceleration. Interestingly, the option tires aren’t showing much deterioration, and they seem like they could go the distance. Normally, you’d see a lot of tire deterioration on this course, but we don’t notice that trend this year.

We have brought a strong ally with us to Magny-Cours this year in the person of Pascal Vasselon, who was with Michelin until he joined our team this season. Monsieur Vasselon has been providing support from the factory, but we figured it would be best to have the person who knows most about tires with us at the circuit to keep an eye on things. During today’s session, Monsieur Vasselon stayed at my side in the engineer motorhome. When a car came into the pits, he would dash over to the garage to check on the tires. At any rate, our biggest concern right now is the weather tomorrow.

• Jarno Qualifies P2!
Saturday turned out to be a terrific day for Panasonic Toyota Racing. It rained during the morning as expected, so we ran just enough to take the veneer off of the rain tires. The track had dried out by the fourth free practice session, so we sent out the cars after working to improve grip, the lack of which was the major complaint from yesterday. We decided that rather than trying to improve downforce, we would approach the issue by making changes to increase mechanical grip, which seemed to do the trick. The drivers immediately noticed the difference. After confirming the cars’ balance, we adjusted air pressure in the tires, and verified balance once again. That was basically all we did to achieve good balance for our drivers. We decided not to make any decisions about tires until this morning. In fact, Ralf made it known that he wanted the final decision to be held off as long as possible. In the end, we were able to settle things in about 15 minutes during the Saturday morning meeting.

Ralf was the first driver to make an attack run during afternoon qualifying—a very difficult task due to the slick track conditions. In particular, Ralf locked the tires braking in the hairpin turn, losing about 0.5 seconds in the process. Going first is always tough, since you have to be careful on one hand, but still try to be aggressive, since you are qualifying, after all. Once a car has been out and has recorded a time, it provides some clues to the others about track conditions. In our case, Ralf reported to our great relief that he didn’t have any balance problems.

Picking up from where he left off in the U.S., Jarno turned in a flawless qualifying attack run. I hope we can all forget about the frustrations in Indianapolis; missing the chance to race after winning pole position. Sunday will be hot, most likely, but I think our cars are set up very well, even in hot conditions. At the very least, our goal for the race is to see Jarno on the podium, and to have Ralf finish in the points.

I hope you all cheer us on, tomorrow. I’ll see you back here at the official Panasonic Toyota Racing website with a Keizo Takahashi Report after the race. Until then…