Formula 1 News

Toyota: 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix preview 

Pascal Vasselon: “We are looking forward with optimism to the Hungarian Grand Prix. Even though the Hungaroring is a low average speed circuit it consists mainly of medium-speed corners with very few really slow corners, but still you need plenty of downforce. The track is quite hard on brakes, which is demanding in terms of braking stability and cooling. Also, tyre grip and consistency management can be a challenge because the track surface and lay-out are very specific; it is low grip with high cornering severity. That created a risk that the hard specifications would struggle for grip while the soft specs could suffer severe graining but Bridgestone has reacted so we will use the soft and super soft tyre to avoid that situation. We are likely to face high ambient temperatures this weekend but the cooling efficiency of our car is very good so we can cope with these conditions without degrading the aerodynamic performance.”

Timo Glock: “Obviously Hungary is a special race in my career after the podium there last season. That was the first of several strong points finishes for me and I hope another competitive weekend there can get the ball rolling again this year. I am in a positive mood and optimistic I can score again. It was disappointing to just miss the points at the last race, especially in front of my home fans, but I made up 11 places after starting from the pit lane so we have the potential to finish much higher. One of my targets this weekend will be to get a perfect lap in qualifying because that has been an issue in the last couple of races for various reasons. Lap times are really close this year so if you are a tenth or two off your maximum pace in qualifying you can drop a few positions and that makes life harder in the race. We’ll be pushing as hard as possible and I am sure we will bounce back.”

Jarno Trulli: “I enjoy visiting Budapest, and the Hungarian Grand Prix is an enjoyable one for me. The Hungaroring is a challenging track from a driver’s perspective because it is very narrow with a lot of corners, even though it is quite a short lap. It might not be one of the fastest tracks on the calendar but it is actually good fun to drive, although you have to keep your concentration because you get punished badly by going off line. It is very close among several teams at the moment so it is difficult to predict what will happen in Hungary but if we can do a smooth weekend with no problems then we will be competitive. The last race weekend was very frustrating for me because we had a lot more performance than the result showed but we are all determined to make up for that with a good points finish in Hungary.”

source: Toyota