Panasonic Toyota Racing French Grand Prix preview

Panasonic Toyota Racing French Grand Prix preview

Mid-season greetings from Panasonic Toyota Racing ahead of the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours. We're back in Europe after back-to-back-races in North America as the Formula 1 season reaches the half-way stage. And we're aiming to build on Jarno's fantastic effort at Indianapolis where he drove to our best result of the season so far.

Ralf is determined to put the United States Grand Prix behind him: "To retire at the first corner in the last race at Indianapolis was obviously very disappointing, especially after a pretty good qualifying performance but I am determined to have a better race in France. Jarno's result demonstrated what the team can achieve and I expect us to be fighting for points again."

After gaining his first pole position at Magny Cours in 2001 and winning the race here two years later, he's hoping for better luck in France. And he adds: "Also, it is my 32nd birthday on Saturday so I'm hoping for a strong qualifying to celebrate and then some points would be a good present!"

The TF107 will benefit from updates to the aero package this week and the team arrives in France fresh from a positive test at Silverstone where both drivers set fastest laps on consecutive days. Jarno's looking forward to adding to his points tally this weekend: "I had a fantastic result in Indianapolis after a really great job by myself and the team.

At the start of the weekend I did not expect to finish as high as sixth but we made no mistakes and we had perfect reliability. This shows we are capable of strong results and I am optimistic we can fight at the front again in France."

PASCAL ENCOURAGED

This weekend's race will be the 57th French Grand Prix and the 17th at Magny Cours. Last season we qualified well with Jarno on the second row and Ralf one place back on the grid. Jarno had to retire early on with a brake problem but Ralf went on to finish fourth. Sunday's race will be 70 laps round the 4.411km circuit.

As you'd expect from a Frenchman, Pascal Vasselon, our Senior General Manager Chassis, also enjoys visiting Magny Cours. And he's expecting the team to deliver another good result. "We have some updates on the car in terms of the aerodynamic configuration because we are now returning to a track which requires our baseline package. Ever since Monaco we have been using special aero packages - Monaco because it is of course high downforce but also Canada and Indianapolis, which require rather lower level of downforce.

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