British GP: Toyota Friday practice notes

The whole Panasonic Toyota Racing team would like to express its sympathy to the people of Britain after Thursday's events in the city of London. In the wake of such a tragedy, there was a sombre atmosphere around the Silverstone paddock today as teams began their preparations for Sunday's British Grand Prix.

But the race weekend will go ahead as planned and Toyota today had a solid day of work as it looks to build on its points-scoring form from last week's French Grand Prix. Toyota's third driver Ricardo Zonta recorded the second fastest time of the day's second session as he worked on tyre comparisons and set-up. Race drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli recorded the 5th and 6th fastest times respectively.

Ralf Schumacher:

"We made it through our practice programme without problems today, so it was a good day. I did my normal work on tyres and set-ups for tomorrow and Sunday. We had a good test here a few weeks ago and I'm looking forward to the rest of the weekend. We had a reasonably positive result in Magny-Cours so our target is another strong points finish."

Jarno Trulli:

"That was a normal Friday of practice. I had no problems with the car and I got through my programme of work on set-up and tyre comparisons. This will be a tough grand prix, but we'll do our best to come away with another positive result for the team. Overall I'm expecting this to be a similar weekend to Magny-Cours. That means that another strong points finish will be a good result."

Ricardo Zonta:

"It was good to be back in the car after my break at last week's French Grand Prix, and that was a positive day for us. This track is very demanding for drivers with fast corners and it's enjoyable to drive here. As usual for the first day of a grand prix weekend, the track was very slippery to start with."

"But the car felt good both during the morning session and for the longer runs in the afternoon. We found some tyres that were quick and consistent over longer runs. This track changes a lot depending on the weather, but so far so good."

Dieter Gass -- Chief Race Engineer:

"That was a very good session for us. We didn't have any problems with any of the cars and we got through all the work that we had planned. Ricardo put in some useful work on the tyres and that leaves us with a clear idea of which direction to take. Both race drivers made it through their programmes and we found some different solutions on the set-ups which proved quite successful. Overall we look to be in good shape for the weekend."

Ralf Schumacher
Car 17, Chassis TF105/03
First Session Classification: 5th, 6 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m21.080s (+1.875s)
Second Session Classification: 5th, 23 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m20.602s (+2.072s)

Jarno Trulli
Car 16, Chassis TF105/07
First Session Classification: 24th, 1 lap completed
No lap time
Second Session Classification: 6th, 27 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m20.816s (+2.286s)

Ricardo Zonta
Car 38, Chassis TF105/02
First Session Classification: 2nd, 30 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m20.139s (+0.934s)
Second Session Classification: 2nd, 31 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m18.964s (+0.434s)

-toyota-