Summary Saturday – Toyota almost comes out of the shadows

The Toyota team woke up at the right time this weekend. For the first Grand Prix of the 2008 season and after relatively standard testing this winter, the Japanese team seems to be in good shape.

The team is one of the few to have placed both of its drivers in the top 10 of each session since the start of the weekend despite still having some reliability issues.

Verdict, Jarno Trulli will start from the 6th position tomorrow on the starting grid, while his teammate set the ninth fastest time. He will, however, start 19th after being penalized twice with a 5-place drop, totaling a 10-place loss for a gearbox change in the morning and for blocking Webber from overtaking while the yellow flag was being waved.

Jarno Trulli – 10th and 6th:

Obtaining a 6th position is encouraging and it’s a good start. I am therefore satisfied with this result, especially since it was difficult to achieve.

« The set-up is far from perfect, and I had problems with my tires… so we know there is potential in the car, we just need to exploit it a bit more and I’m optimistic for tomorrow. I just hope to have a good race. I’m keeping my fingers crossed… »

Timo Glock – 13th and 19th (9th before penalties):

« This session went well. It was my first qualification in F1 for a long time, and I am happy to have made it to Q3. »

« Unfortunately, we had to change the gearbox after the tests this morning. I lost five places, but during the qualifying, everything went well. Q1 was very complicated with the red flag I caused. But then, in Q2, I set a good time at the end of the session. I lost a few tenths in turn 9, but I managed to participate in Q3. It’s good work done by the team. »

Pascal Vasselon – General Director of Chassis

The first qualification of the year delivered, as expected, its share of surprises. Some good and some not so good…

« It was very interesting to see the competition between several teams and drivers today. We are also satisfied with the work accomplished. We managed to maintain the same approach we showed during the last 2007 Grand Prix in Brazil. »

We are not overjoyed either. There remains a big gap with the leading cars, and we had issues with Timo Glock’s single-seater. The feelings remain mixed within the team, but one thing is certain, our drivers did a very good job!