Thank you for your support over the weekend. This is my report from the British GP, the historic home of the first-ever F1 GP event.

Hoping to maintain momentum from joint testing, and push to the front in qualifying

The Panasonic Toyota Racing cars were in top form two weeks ago here at Silverstone during joint testing, marking top lap times. We started this weekend using the same setup we used during testing. As far as aerodynamics, we used the same specifications from the French GP. We did make some minor changes to the shape of the brake ducts, and the fresh engines that both drivers had available this week featured a new specification that included a newly tuned intake/exhaust system.

We might have been able to avoid the early accident at last week’s French GP if we had qualified slightly higher. If such were the case, then our results would have been dramatically different. Our mind-set going into race week this week was to secure a higher starting position than we have been used to.

While the weather was unsettled during Friday, Panasonic Toyota Racing made the most of the test data gathered at Silverstone in late June, recording strong results on the time charts. It was a good start to the weekend.

Continuing top form through Friday. Remaining vigilant to get both cars in the Top 10 grid

The first day of the British GP was conducted under typically British weather. It was a difficult day, with unsettled weather conditions consisting of gusting wind and intermittent rain all afternoon. These conditions prevented us from getting an accurate take on the results of our settings changes, and we had a very difficult time making progress in our setup. Having said that, the testing at Silverstone two weeks ago did give us some solid leads, and we were able to confirm what we had learned, even under Friday’s adverse conditions. With this favorable course of events, we were able to set about our work in a calm manner, without having to make fussy changes here and there.

To outward appearances, the chassis was the same specification as the one used at the French GP. However, some detailed improvements were made, including fresh engines featuring an improved intake and exhaust system.

Even though Ralf (Schumacher) recorded P3 and Jarno (Trulli) recorded P5 during Friday’s afternoon session, we know we couldn’t allow ourselves to become overconfident. We understood the contribution of fuel load and on-course timing in the results that placed us up among the top competitors. Fortunately, we received word that the weather would recover for Saturday and Sunday, and that qualifying would be held under stable conditions. We expected our position relative to the other teams would become clear at that time. Our attitude after Friday’s practice was that our first job was to focus on qualifying, not only to get both cars into the top 10, but also to hopefully push even higher on the grid.

An aerodynamic approach successfully implementing lessons learned from the first race of the year. Ralf captures P6, the highest spot on the starting grid so far this season.

Each race I seem to say that our goal is to get both cars in the top 10 on the grid. Finally, I can say that’s exactly what we did. Having accomplished this goal for the first time in a long while, we were even prompted to research when it was we last had both cars qualify so high. We learned a great deal from our struggles with the strong wind in Bahrain (the first stop of the season), and we seem to have been able to make quite an improvement in aerodynamics during the joint testing at Silverstone two weeks ago to overcome the neurotically sensitive behavior of our cars in the wind.

Both the hard and medium tire compounds demonstrated favorable performance, and Ralf secured the highest qualifying result of the season at P6. The team had high expectations for the race...

Still, the fact was that we couldn’t just let go and enjoy ourselves. While Ralf captured our highest qualifying spot this season at P6, Jarno was struggling to find the pace. We believe the lack of pace was due to Jarno’s car being overly sensitive to wind gusts. It was a credit to Jarno’s skill as a driver that he was able to record strong laps during qualifying, moving on to the final period despite the issues his car was experiencing.

Both of the types of tires supplied by Bridgestone demonstrated strong performance, with both having the potential to be the “winning tire.” But there was also a clear difference in characteristics between the two, meaning we had a job ahead of us to skillfully manage the tires and their characteristics during the race.

With safety the overriding factor, two disappointing retirements

After the first pit stop, Ralf looked to win back position out on the course, but due to safety issues with a critical location, the team was forced to retire the car.

Not being able to take advantage of our qualifying results, the race was a disappointment for everyone. We had worried about our start, and the Renault cars and BMW’s Heidfeld were able to overtake us off the grid. Ralf’s being able to subsequently keep pace with those cars was one bright spot for us. After the first pit stop, Ralf reported back that he was experiencing trouble with the left front wheel bearing, and he headed back in to the pits. Before Ralf came back in, we were able to determine that the issue was with the tightening of the wheel nut, but we weren’t able to ascertain the actual cause of the issue. Being such a critical part, we couldn’t let Ralf out on the course without knowing the cause of the trouble, so we elected to retire his car from the race.

While Jarno didn’t encounter any mechanical issues, his tire grip fell of drastically at about lap 10, keeping him from increasing pace. We changed his tires, but the symptoms didn’t improve. We had Jarno come back in slightly earlier than planned, this time using the medium tires rather than the hard compound we had been using. Unfortunately, Jarno’s situation remained basically the same—a slight improvement in grip, but no way to improve lap times. Since we weren’t able to specifically identify the problem with Ralf’s car, we decided to retire Jarno’s car as well for the sake of driver safety.

To have both cars retire from the race after starting from the top 10 was truly disappointing, and left a bitter taste in our mouths. We will be returning to the factory to investigate the cause of our wheel bearing issue.

Panasonic Toyota Racing is united in its desire to show a strong result at our second “Home GP” at the European Grand Prix held at the Nurburgring. We encourage all of our fans to cheer us on.