02 Oct,2007 (Tue)

Thank you for your support over the weekend. After a 30–year absence, the F1 World Championship Series has returned to Fuji Speedway. With the invaluable help and cooperation of local government and citizens, the F1 Japanese Grand Prix finally found its way back to the Fuji Speedway. We began our Fuji Project in May of this year, preparing for this day when we would be able to meet the lofty expectations of our fans. Here is my report from the F1 Japanese Grand Prix, held for the first time in 30 years at the Fuji Speedway.

Fuji Special: New floor, rear wing, and turning vanes

The Fuji Speedway circuit consists of a long straight and a technical infield section, making it challenge to find the right aerodynamic settings. We conducted simulations to find the best aerodynamic package for quicker lap times around the circuit, testing what we believed to be an optimal package last week during the joint testing session at Jerez. After confirming the performance during testing, we brought this new package with us to Fuji Speedway.

More particularly, we put in a redesigned floor (including diffuser), rear wing, and turning vanes. We also changed the front tire wheel covers to a non-rotating design.

Friday: Jarno settles in at P4, despite setup problems

We finally reached the first day of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.Looking solely at Jarno’s (Trulli) P4 on the time charts during the second practice session on Friday, one would think that we started the weekend in a pretty good position. However, it took us some time to find the right setup. Normally, you expect understeer going into a corner and oversteer on the corner exit. But on Friday we were having oversteer issues in the middle of the corners. We made adjustments to the weight distribution and front/rear spring balance to dial in our setup, making no downforce level changes at all between the morning and afternoon sessions.

Both drivers reported back that our new aero parts were working fine, but Jarno's best time of 1m19.711s was slower than we had predicted based on our Friday simulation time. Considering track grip, I think we could have gone a bit faster, so I can’t say our performance Friday was completely satisfactory.

Unable to fully draw out the performance of our extreme weather tires

Qualifying turned out to be a disappointment, especially considering how we ran during free practice on Friday. Our performance in the rain during Saturday morning practice was by no means poor. Normally, we check each component on the car and then bring them back into the pits, but since we confirmed that everything was running well during our installation lap, we left both cars out on the track. When the red flag came out right away, Ralf (Schumacher) had yet to pass the control line, and Jarno had to stop after only one lap. Even so, the feel of the cars seemed to be fine, and we were looking forward to qualifying in the afternoon.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get all of the performance out of the wet (extreme weather) tires during qualifying. In particular, the golden lap range for tire grip seemed to be very limited during Q2 (second qualifying period), perhaps owing to the fact that the pace was faster than we had predicted. Normally, the lighter the fuel load, the better the lap time under wet conditions; however, making our attack runs with about two to three laps of fuel on board, we still couldn’t improve our times over our first lap, and we were ultimately knocked out after Q2, unable to continue on to the final qualifying period. Finishing the first qualifying period at P14, Ralf was fast enough to move into the second qualifying period. Unfortunately, his car was damaged at the end of Q1 during contact with another car, and we couldn’t make repairs in time for Ralf to get on the track during Q2. Even though Ralf was on another attack lap, he was already at P14. Perhaps we should have radioed him to back off as soon we saw that he was coming up on traffic in front.

Mistakes and car trouble keep both cars out of the points. Looking for a much stronger race next year

Still having high hopes for the race, our results were very disappointing result, especially because it was in front of the large number of fans who packed the stands in the rain. No doubt, the stormy weather played a part in our inability to demonstrate our true power, but we can’t use that as an excuse when all teams race under the same conditions.

Jarno’s spin behind the safety car happened when he accidentally touched the paddle shifter, shifting down as he was moving the wheels back and forth to generate some tire heat. Since the error cost him track position, we hurriedly changed our race strategy. With the safety car out on the course for a long time, we anticipated a weather–shortened race. Accordingly, we fueled Jarno’s car with enough fuel for 75% of the total race distance, and sent him out on the course. Ultimately, though, the race went the official distance, with the safety car only coming out once more the whole time. Without enough fuel to finish the race, Jarno had to come back into the pits during the final stint.

Getting a full tank of fuel on lap 18, Jarno wasn’t able to increase his pace. When Ralf came in for his first pit stop on lap 28, we decided not to fill his tank to the top. While I don’t believe the strategy itself was a mistake, Ralf experienced electrical system problems that affected his wireless equipment, preventing him from coming into the pits quickly after the safety car came out for the second time, and costing us position on the track.

Ralf’s electrical system problems soon became much more serious. By the time he came in for a third pit stop, the race was essentially over. But everyone on the team was united in their desire to fight to the end, and the mechanics came together and worked incredibly hard to get Ralf’s car back out on the course before the end of the race. Unfortunately, the rough race had left quite a bit of shrapnel on the track, and in the end Ralf finished the race in the pits with a punctured tire.

To finish the F1 Japanese Grand Prix like this–a Grand Prix for which we had such high goals–was truly disheartening. But the season isn’t over, yet. I want you to know that we will give our all, fighting until the very end. Next year, we’ll come back to Fuji Speedway a stronger team. And we hope you’ll continue to cheer us on!

Noritoshi Arai at Fuji Speedway. It was a rainy, frustrating race, with the team unable to show their true strength. Panasonic Toyota Racing is looking for a comeback at the next race–the Chinese Grand Prix.