As I reported yesterday, Jarno captured P2 in qualifying, ensuring our team of a good position at the start. Unfortunately, we couldn’t run as fast as we hoped, and Jarno finished 5th. Going into the race, we even had aspirations of winning, so the result was quite disappointing for everyone. On the other hand, Ralf drove a very strong race, improving to finish in the points at 7th place, after qualifying 11th. I suppose these weren’t disastrous results, since both cars won points. But how fast were Renault and McLaren today? Just as I thought we finally caught up to them, they just pull away. I have to tell you that F1 just evolves so quickly—it’s so competitive. You can rest assured we will catch up to them, and then we’ll pass them.

• Weather as expected. But, worse-than-expected tire degradation.
As predicted, the day of the race saw clear weather and ambient temperatures reaching 30°C by the start of the race. Just as we had planned for in our race strategy, track surface temperature approached, and then exceeded, 50°C. Off the start, Jarno did a great job to keep the others at bay, and maintaining second position. Unfortunately, he couldn’t match pace with Alonso from Renault, who qualified on the pole.

Trulli was able to keep second position before the first pit, but couldn't quite secure a podium finish. Both Panasonic Toyota Racing cars encountered grip problems with the rear tires.

Our strategy called for Jarno to pit twice and Ralf to pit three times, but to be adaptable during the race. Ultimately, Ralf got caught up in traffic both in front and behind, so we changed to a two-stop strategy for him as well. I think our strategy was sound, since the Magny-Cours circuit has only a few places where you can realistically overtake.

Unfortunately, we ran into rear tire degradation much quicker than we expected. We changed different aspects of the setup when our cars pitted, but we couldn’t do anything to forestall the tire wear. At first, the cars had a tendency to understeer, but then they ran into oversteer at levels much more than we could have predicted. When we conducted our combined testing in Jerez before the French GP, track temperatures exceeded 50°C, but there was nowhere near the kind of tire degradation we encountered today. Looking back on our tire troubles, I think maybe we should have gone with three pit stops, loading less fuel and lightening the burden on the tires. If we had done this, perhaps we could have caught up during the last part of the race. I think we’ll need to do some added analysis on the effects of fuel weight on tire wear once we get back to the factory.

At any rate, I was completely shocked at how fast Renault’s Alonso got around the circuit today. McLaren’s Raikkonen was a surprise as well. I would never have believed they could have qualified as they did with so much fuel on board. They didn’t have their first pit stop until lap 28! It’s amazing they could have been so fast with so much fuel. Both Renault and McLaren have accomplished more development than I would have guessed. Ferrari has come on strong, too. No time for us to be careless.

• The next race is The British GP, a great course for us
We’ll be right back at it next week at the British Grand Prix. We won’t have much time to make any changes, but our cars are particularly suited to the Silverstone circuit, so be looking for us to make a strong statement. Team principal Tomita has been very positive, telling us, “Let’s go to France, England and Germany to win!” The team is just as fired up as Mr. Tomita. Silverstone has been good to us, and we had a top finish there in the past. We certainly intend to be at the center position on the podium after the race.

Thank you again for visiting the official Panasonic Toyota Racing website. Let’s meet here again next week, when I file my reports from the British GP. Until then…