Hello, everyone. Thank you again for visiting the official Panasonic Toyota Racing website. Takahashi here with a report on the events of Friday and Saturday from the British Grand Prix.

While we can say that both of our cars completed the French GP, we couldn’t fully solve the question of speed at Magny-Cours. Jarno qualified in second position on the grid, but not being able to match speed with the top group, we were frustrated again in our quest for another podium finish. I want all of our fans to know that we are completely focused on winning a spot on the podium here at Silverstone.

• No updates since France
At the British GP, we will be running the TF-105 with the same spec that we did in France—no aerodynamic or engine changes. The biggest reason was the lack of time to complete upgrades, but we also feel that our cars have more than enough potential to be competitive this weekend “as-is.”

Silverstone is best known as a high-speed GP course, but it still requires downforce—even more downforce that last week at Magny-Cours. Why? Because this track has many high-speed corners, which means the more downforce, the better if a car is to maintain speed. The infield section of the second half of the course features several low-speed corners, and these conflicting demands make it difficult to set up a car with the proper balance—yet finding the proper balance is one key to victory this weekend. Not only do we need to find the right aerodynamics, but we must also find the right mechanical grip setup for effective low-speed cornering.

Silverstone has a rough track surface—notoriously hard on tires. Generally, harder compound tires are used here. And the long straightaways mean that wind can easily come into play, affecting car performance. The wind direction not only affects top speeds achievable, but can also influence the car’s balance in unusual ways. Out of all 19 races, the fuel effect here is harshest, while position loss during pits is significant. The basic assumption is a two-pit strategy for racing at Silverstone. With the long straightaways, this is a course where we can really open up the engine, so I think it’s a favorable track for our car. I would say that our car has a comparative affinity for the Silverstone track. Our cars have always had fairly strong mechanical grip, and with our greatly improved aero package this year, I think we’ve reached an advanced level of balance.

• Friday progresses smoothly. Some tire selection confusion.
As has generally been the case this year, Friday progressed rather smoothly. There was no trouble to speak of; we were able to complete our program as planned, and we even recorded some strong lap times. The rubber grip hadn’t built up on the track yet during the morning session, so our two regular drivers didn’t run many laps on the slippery surface. Ricardo made some long runs, helping us collect a good amount of data.

The conditions of last week's GP made tire selection difficult, with Ralf selecting the same tires as his teammate. This time, Trulli is going with the soft compound, while Ralf is going with the hard compound.

The initial weather forecast for the afternoon called for a chance of rain. But judging by the weather during the morning, we thought the rain would hold off, which is why we didn’t try to push unreasonably to get in a lot of laps. As we predicted, the afternoon session was dry, and we were able to perform all of our planned tests. Right at the start, Jarno spun unexpectedly, but the episode concluded without incident, and we were able to make some changes to his setup. We didn’t make any setup changes for Ricardo, choosing to keep collecting tire data, while we made changes to the other cars reflecting the drivers’ input. As a result, I think we were able to make some headway in car setup during the afternoon session. We weren’t looking too badly speed-wise, either.

As is always the case with the tires, the softer compound showed superior single lap bursts, while the harder compound showed stability during long runs. Each compound showed definite strengths and weaknesses, which made tire selection a difficult proposition. Of course, we also had to factor in anticipated weather conditions for Saturday and Sunday, and the morning and afternoon sessions today indicated some contradictory data. Also, contrary to our expectations, we didn’t see much graining in the tires. Michelin said that they brought a type not likely to be subject to excessive graining, as indicated by testing in June. All-in-all, I think this may have been the best Friday we have had over the last several races.

• Jarno qualifies 4th; Ralf Qualifies 8th on the grid
From the aspect of race strategy, I think we can be satisfied with our qualifying performances. We are in a strong position to shoot for the podium, and both cars are set up to finish in the points.

The track surface was fairly cool during the morning session, so we didn’t take many laps, figuring that doing so would only serve to confuse our perception of the best settings. As expected, practice session four proved to have higher temperatures and better conditions, so we used this time to dial in our final settings. We resolved all of the issues left over from Friday, and we were able to achieve a car balance that gave rise to no complaints from our drivers.

By the afternoon qualifying session, the track temperature had increased by more than 7°C, so we paid extra attention to our tire pressure adjustments. Ultimately, it seems that we didn’t get the adjustments correct for Ralf’s tires, and he struggled with a lack of tire grip during his qualifying lap. Jarno mentioned some understeer trouble, but in his fashion, he turned in a perfect attack lap on his qualifying run.

I believe the time difference between our drivers was basically the difference in tire selection. Actually, we decided to go with different tires for each driver. Both option and prime tires showed comparative strengths and weaknesses, and since the engineering side had no particularly strong recommendations either way, we let the drivers pick. Given the choice, Jarno preferred the soft compound, while Ralf went with the hard compound. According to Michelin, only three cars went with the harder compound. While we don’t know which cars went that route, we do know that the hard compound will provide a stable pace during the race, which bodes well for Ralf moving up through the drivers ahead of him. Although each driver is running different tires, our strategies are not significantly different for each car.

From all indications, the weather should improve by race time tomorrow, and the ambient temperature will get to about 25°C. This means that track surface temperature could reach as high as 40°C. In my opinion, the key to victory tomorrow will be how each team adapts to the race conditions. McLaren and Renault are as fast as ever, but I think we have a good chance to break through.

Cheer us on tomorrow. I’ll see you here again after the race with another Keizo Takahashi Report. Until then…