24 July,2007 (Tue)

Thank you for your support over the weekend. Instead of the German GP held at the Hockenheimring in the past, the only F1 event to be held in Germany this season is the European GP at the Nurburgring. Here is my report from an extremely eventful European Grand Prix.

Heading to our "second" home grand prix having fully resolved past issues

Although we retired both of our cars from the preceding race at the British Grand Prix, we kept the engines, and used both in their second race here at the European GP. We did not make any major aerodynamic changes, but we did introduce an updated shape to the side pod extensions, based on the results of wind tunnel tests. We were able to determine the cause of the wheel nut tightening trouble with Ralf’s (Schumacher) car at the British GP, so I don't think we’ll be having any trouble in that area again.

Since we were unable to determine the cause of Ralf’s trouble during the British Grand Prix race, we retired Jarno’s (Trulli) car as well. In the end, however, we learned that it wouldn't have been necessary for us to retire Jarno's car. But considering driver safety, and since we were unable to determine the underlying cause of the problem, we couldn't just leave Jarno out on the track. I think we made the correct decision at the time.

The Nurburgring is the closest F1 circuit to the Panasonic Toyota Racing factory in Cologne, so you could say that it is our "second" home race. We came to the race hoping to make a fantastic result.

Predictions of rain force us to complete our entire program Friday morning

With reports of rainy weather coming in for Friday afternoon, we decided to allocate the testing responsibilities between our cars, aiming to complete our entire program during the 90 minutes of Friday morning free practice. We put medium tires on Jarno’s car and had him make a series of short runs. After that, we switched to soft tires for him to perform long runs. Ralf went through setup work on soft tires, and then we put medium tires on his car for him to drive some long runs.

The rain fell Friday afternoon as forecast, but the rain stopped before the start of the afternoon practice session. The track surface dried out partway through the session, so we took some of that time toward the setup work that we didn’t complete during the morning. The car was still acting nervous during braking in some situations, and we still couldn't resolve our understeer issues in the medium-speed corners.

Two weeks ago at the British GP, strong winds kept us from finding the right setup for Jarno, which forced him to drive under difficult circumstances. Here, despite the rain, were able to complete the program for both drivers in good order. I think we put in a good day's work for the first day of the weekend.

Looking for a clear lap for the final qualifying attack; securing P8 and P9

I was pleased that we had both cars qualify in the top 10. However, looking at the gap between our cars and those ahead of us, I was a little disappointed that we didn’t qualify higher than P8 and P9. My dissatisfaction stems from the fact that we adopted a strategy to take advantage of the red flag that came out with five minutes left in the third qualifying period. While the other drivers were sure to come back on the course on used tires, burn off one lap of fuel before pitting, and then change to new tires for their attacks, we planned to go out on new tires, making our attack lap on a clear course while the other teams were back in the pits changing tires. We predicted that with only five minutes left in the session, traffic would be an impediment, so it would be wiser to make our attack runs on a clear course, even if we did have the extra fuel weight on board.

In point of fact, both drivers made a mistake-free attack lap, free of any traffic interference. While we were happy with the driver performance, considering the time gap with the next-higher cars, we would easily have been in front of them if we had been one lap lighter on fuel. Let’s just say I had mixed feelings about our qualifying results.

Jarno spun his car during the second qualifying period, barely making it through to the next session. And we can’t say there weren’t other areas in which we could have performed better. We need to be in a place where can perform more consistently, moving flawlessly through the second qualifying period, and securing a position right behind the top two teams.

Quickly changing weather; finishing out of the points, unable to show our true colors

The rapidly deteriorating weather during the race caused as flurry of activity in the pits. The rain clouds came in almost immediately after the race start. Unfortunately, we were unable to get Jarno back into the pits near the end of his first lap. One can only say that the team made its decision too late. The extra time it took for us to change Ralf's tires is another mistake we must eliminate if we are to catch up to the top teams. In any event, both drivers pitted twice each in the space of three laps, losing track position in the process.

The race continued to be a confused affair, even after the red flag was put away. Since there was still a chance for rain, we changed Jarno over to extreme weather (deeply grooved) tires. Unfortunately, our strategy backfired. As the course continued to dry out quickly, we had to bring Ralf and Jarno back to the pits at the same time, in that order. The left rear tire wasn't ready for Jarno’s car when it was his turn, and we lost about 20 precious seconds.

Our drivers were seriously hampered by our inadequacy in the pits. I felt bad for our drivers, who drove so valiantly under such turbulent conditions. We need to find out why we are making these mistakes, and ensure that they never happen again. My sincerest hope is that we can be ready for the next race at the Hungarian GP, able to show our true power under any and all conditions. We thank you, and ask for your continued support.

Noritoshi Arai at the Nurburgring. While the cars were on pace, the rapidly changing weather conditions became the team’s Achilles’ heel, costing a chance for points. Panasonic Toyota Racing will come together to rebound from this disappointing result at the next grand prix race.