29 Aug,2007 (Wed)

Thank you as always for your support. After the Hungarian GP, the F1 series took a three-week summer break. Not only were there no races during this period, but joint testing was prohibited as well, so we had no chance to drive our cars on a real circuit. However, at TMG we continued our development work without rest in daily progress toward the second half of the season. The cars we brought to the Turkish GP feature several new parts. Without further ado, here is my report from a difficult Turkish GP.

New parts for the first race after summer break

At the Hungarian GP, Ralf (Schumacher) captured P6 in qualifying, and finished the race P6, finally showing the true Panasonic Toyota Racing strength. We still haven't had both of our cars finish in the points in a race this season, so our goal is to have a double-points finish, preferably a P5 and P6, becoming the top team behind McLaren and Ferrari. Our engines were on their second race this weekend, so our only changes were in the aerodynamic parts. While it might be hard to tell, one of the changes we made was to the floor of the car. We also changed the shape of the nose, as well as changing the design of the upper flap of the front wing. However, this section must incorporate a crushable structure, and any changes to this area have to pass tests required by the FIA. Only certain days are set aside for crash testing, and the test for our new nose and front wing was set for the evening of the first day of the Turkish GP. Accordingly, we had to use the old nose and front wing during Friday free practice. After passing the test, we set aside time during Saturday morning's practice for a check run to gather some data.

P3 and P4 after first-day free practice; keeping our guard up

The red flag came out during Friday's afternoon practice when the cover came off of the drainage ditch on the side of the course, cutting 28 minutes off of practice time, and causing it to be quite a frantic session. The strong wind also played a role in many drivers straying off the course. In particular, the famous Turn 8 at the Istanbul Park Circuit and its 180 degree turns caused quite a bit of trouble for the drives, driving into a headwind at the start of the curve, and then being pushed by the wind from behind at the exit.

The most difficult part at Istanbul is adjusting the ride height of the car. The Istanbul Park Circuit is extremely flat with low curbs. This means that the teams want the lowest ride height possible, but if the ride height is too low, there's a good chance the car will bottom out (scrape on the road surface) in the high-speed Turn 8. We wanted to work on this ride-height adjustment during Friday afternoon practice, but with 28 minutes less practice time due to the red flag at the beginning of the session, we had to give more priority to tire comparisons and long-run data collection.

Even with the shortened and frantic session, Ralf ran at P3, and Jarno (Trulli) ran P4. Things looked good for us, if only on the time charts. But we still weren't happy at all with the car setup, and we still had many tasks to check off. My honest opinion was that we were still a long way from being comfortable going into the race. And keeping our high position at the end of qualifying is what was foremost in our minds.

Passing the crash test; a qualifying misfire with Jarno at P9

On Friday evening, our new nose and new front wing passed the crash test held at an industrial research institute in Cologne, Germany, held under the watchful gaze of FIA staff. As planned, we installed the new package on both cars Saturday morning before starting the practice session. We were able to confirm in both our data and driver feel that the new package provided more downforce for the car. With this feedback, we made our final decision to use this new package for qualifying and the race. But something happened that we never expected.

Our surprise was that we weren't able to increase our speed to the level we projected at the end of Saturday morning's practice, even after changing over to the softer option tires. Going into qualifying unsure of our performance, we got correspondingly shaky results.

The first time out, we chose to go with the harder prime tires for our check run. Here, Ralf's rear tires locked in Turn 9, putting him into a dangerous spin. We brought Ralf in, changed him over to the option tires, and made an adjustment to the front wing, which ended up making issues worse. Ralf's car suffered from oversteer during his attack lap, preventing him from setting the time we were all looking for, and ultimately putting him in P18 for the start of the race.

Jarno was concerned with the nervous behavior of the car under braking, but he was able to keep it together to qualify in the top 10. This marked the seventh race in a row that Jarno went through to the final qualifying period, but he wasn't able to demonstrate his usual sharp driving in his final attack lap, ending qualifying at P9. Our goal for this race was to have both cars in the top six, so we were obviously disappointed in our qualifying results. However, the measures we took against the heat helped the TF107 make it safely through the cruel Turkish heat. With the race conditions expected to be extremely hot, our new goal was to run a tenacious race, aiming to win points for the second race in a row.

Good race pace, but bad luck

From P9, Jarno got off to a good start (one of our issues this year), heading into the first corner shoulder-to-shoulder with Nico Rosberg (Williams), who started on the inside of the grid. Unfortunately, Jarno spun when was hit from the back by Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) from P10. Avoiding contact with the cars coming from behind, Jarno continued the race, but this time from the very back of the pack. Jarno made a number of exciting passes, racing aggressively to the end, and going all out to finish P16.

Ralf started the race from P16 on the grid when two drivers ahead of him changed their engines before the race, being moved to the back of the field. For Ralf, our strategy was to have him drive a patient race, with only one pit stop. The decision itself had many merits, and Ralf moved up as high as P11 during the middle stint, but being held up by slower cars in front during the first half of the race, we weren't able to take full advantage of the one-stop strategy, and Ralf ultimately passed the checkered flag at P12.

Even on a one-stop strategy, Ralf kept pace with the two-stop cars, so I really believe that he could have finished somewhere in the points, were it not for the traffic in front of him. This grand prix race once again convinced me of the importance of qualifying position.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to win any points in Turkey, but we certainly saw improvement with the new aero package we installed on Saturday. The next race is the Italian Grand Prix, held at the high-speed Monza circuit. Our goal is to use this race to gain momentum as we prepare for the Fuji Speedway, and we ask you for you continued support.

Noritoshi Arai, at the Istanbul Park. While Panasonic Toyota Racing brought new aero parts to the race, the race elements failed to mesh, preventing the team from showing its true power. Panasonic Toyota Racing will be looking for a comeback in a high-speed battle at the next race.