Saturday: Toyota is on track for the final victory

A development over the past two years that many teams envy. In 2007, Toyota was at its lowest. In 2008, the team was the fourth force on the grid for much of the season before being overtaken by Renault. In 2009, and as early as the second race of the season, Toyota was aiming for victory.

She can really hope for it as her two drivers are ideally positioned with Jarno Trulli on the front row and Timo Glock in 3rd place. One on the clean side of the track, the other on the dirty side, Toyota has all the cards in hand to succeed and curb the Brawn frenzy…

Jarno Trulli – 4th and 2nd:

The team did a fantastic job, we stayed clear of all traffic, and the car behaved well. It’s a great success for us today. I worked hard with my engineers to analyze yesterday’s data and make improvements to the setup. We achieved it for the qualifications.

Certainly, it’s a bit disappointing to miss the pole position by a few hundredths, but Formula 1 is very tight at the moment. Compared to last year, we are much more competitive and instead of fighting for the top six places, we are now fighting for pole position and the race victory.

Timo Glock – 5th and 3rd (5th time)

« Overall, the qualifying session went well and I’m happy to start from the 3rd row. But I’m a bit frustrated with my last lap in Q3 because I struggled to get used to the car with a significant amount of fuel. This means that I wasn’t at 100%. In Q2, I made some mistakes on my first stint, but I did a great job on the second. I’m really happy with that lap.

« At the end of the day, it’s a good result for the whole team to have both cars in the top three. It will be a tough race with the weather as a disruptive element. »

Pascal Vasselon – Deputy General Manager:

« We are very happy with this result, even though the ultimate goal is to be in pole position. I would say we are not completely satisfied with the car’s balance and grip level. Obviously, we have responded well since yesterday, it’s a very good result. »

Regarding the tires, it’s the opposite of Melbourne. Overall, it’s been a good weekend so far, and we’re very optimistic for tomorrow’s race.