17.03.2007

Panasonic Toyota Racing started the 2007 Formula 1 season with a strong performance in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. The team was one of just three to get both of its cars into the top 10 qualifying shoot-out for the first race of the new season.

Jarno Trulli will start eighth on the grid after a lap in 1m28.404s, while team mate Ralf Schumacher lines up just one place behind after stopping the clock in 1m28.692s.

“It is a good result to come here and put both cars into the top ten after some difficulties in winter testing,” Trulli said. “First impressions are that the new season is going to be highly competitive. I would not describe today’s lap as one of my greatest ever but it was clean and it gives me a solid platform from which to try to score points tomorrow.”

Schumacher likes the atmosphere in Australia and added: “It is one of my favourite trips of the season, I’ve had some strong races here and I hope I can get something out of the race tomorrow. Qualifying was not without incident. I had a gearbox control issue in Q2 and only got in one flying lap, then in Q3 I made a small mistake, but I think we have to be satisfied with getting both cars through to Q3.”

Kimi Raikkonen (1m26.072s) will start his first race for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro from pole position, with reigning world champion Fernando Alonso (1m26.493s) alongside him on his debut for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber was third fastest (1m26.556s), fractionally quicker than reigning GP2 champion Lewis Hamilton, making his F1 debut for McLaren. Polish driver Robert Kubica (1m27.347s) put the second BMW sauber fifth on the grid, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella (1m27.634s) with the first of the ING Renault F1 Team cars. Mark Webber made it five different chassis in the first seven positions when he lapped in 1m27.934s with the first of the Red Bull Racing RB3s. Behind Jarno and Ralf, Japanese driver Takuma Sato turned in a strong performance to put his Super Aguri into the top 10.

Panasonic Toyota Racing’s Senior General Manager, Chassis, Pascal Vasselon, explained: “We only really showed our pace in qualifying because in the practice sessions we were concentrating on race set-up work and did most of our running on the harder tyre. Obviously we used the softer one to set our qualifying times and it was satisfying to get both Ralf and Jarno through into Q3. At one point in Q2 Jarno became Jarno Trolley when he went out with his trolley attached, thankfully without harm. We also had a gearbox control problem on Ralf’s car but that was fixed quite quickly. I’ll have to attribute those problems to it being the first race back after the winter break! We had only one set of tyres left for Q3, which is why we only did one flying lap, but we have a sound basis from which to try to score points tomorrow.”