Formula 1 News

2008 British GP, race: Toyota quotes 

Tadashi Yamashina: “Jarno showed excellent spirit again today and came away with a good result given his grid position. He stayed out in very difficult conditions on the standard wet tyre and he kept the car on the track doing good lap times. It was very important for him to score points because we have struggled in the past in this type of race. Today we stayed out on the standard wet tyre rather than switch to extreme wets because we felt the weather was going to improve. That choice worked out reasonably well in the end. We must still analyse how to make the best use of the tyres in changing conditions but you have to make an instant decision. Timo struggled to keep the car on the track when it was at its wettest but Jarno’s settings were better for these conditions. The pit crew also did a great job for the whole of practice, qualifying and the race. This result moves us up to 4th in the constructors’ championship but we are still looking to make further ground. Next we head to Hockenheim, where we have a major new aerodynamics package so we are expecting a good result.”

Timo Glock: “That was really difficult for me today. I concentrated on looking after my tyres during the first stint and everything was fine until the first stop. After that it was much harder. When the heavy rain came, I had no traction and the car was sliding around. There was massive aquaplaning and I had no chance to hold the car on the track. That was a pity but we will try for more at the next race. The guys in Cologne are working hard and the car is improving so we will push again in Hockenheim.”

Jarno Trulli: “It was a good race and it’s good to take two points but I hoped for more. Throughout the race I was very strong and I’d made it up to third place when the heavy rain came. At that point the track was really bad, I was aquaplaning everywhere and losing 15 seconds a lap. We should have gambled on switching to the extreme wet tyre but unfortunately when it came to take the decision we knew it wasn’t going to rain any more. It was just a question of making a difficult decision in difficult track conditions but in hindsight we should have gone for it. It’s a pity because I was driving so strongly that we could have made the podium. Nevertheless after yesterday’s qualifying, two points is not bad. We’ve scored at the last three races and we have a good chance to keep up the momentum. Now we must keep pushing to develop the car and then we have to take our chances at each race.”

source: Toyota