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Australian GP Press Conference Ralf on the Australian GP Ralf: "We are all very happy with what we achieved today... Grip was hard to come by so I really had to fight the whole race to keep the car there, but it worked out in the end and we achieved a great result. We are still a way from the top teams so we have to work, but I have no doubt that our crew is able to do that. We're strong people and pushing hard so I'm looking forward to the next few races" Australian GP result (2 April) Ralf finished 3rd - he's now seventh. His progress up the order was a result of a combination of good judgement and luck at staying out of the clashes and crashes that decimated the front order in the second half of the race. First Michael Schumacher triggered another safety-car period after a spectacular crash on the exit of the final corner, spinning into the wall after he ran wide and lost control of his car on the grass. Montoya’s retirement in almost the same place, after his car appeared to shut down following a near-miss on the grass that had claimed Michael, promoted Ralf another place - and after getting past fellow German Nick Heidfeld, he held onto a comfortable third place to the flag. Australian GP qualifying (1 April) Ralf qualified 6th. Ralf: "I'm delighted to have qualified so high and it's a good achievement for Toyota to be looking so good after the problems we have had. Yesterday was hard but already this morning our pace looked better so we're pretty pleased with what we have achieved today... We've been struggling for grip but the last session was the best I have felt all season". More quotes on qualifying at uk.sports.yahoo.com Ralf beat Ferrari and Williams to be the top Bridgestone runner. Toyota has Bridgestone's latest and softest tyres, whereas Ferrari is using an older spec that takes longer to get up to temperature. Ralf: "I must say, this weekend, we seem to have taken the best choice, so we can't be too far away from being in a close working relationship with Bridgestone" Pic from heraldsun.news.com.au Ralf visits Ramsay Street Ralf: "So it's actually filmed out here on the street? That's pretty cool". Ryan Moloney, who plays Toadie said he had been excited to meet Ralf. "We've had a lot of visitors here over the years but none has turned up with a car like that" Toyota preview Australia GP (27 March) Ralf: "After Malaysia I returned to Europe for testing as we look to improve on our start to the year. Heating up the tyres has been a problem for us, so Australia will show us how far we've come. It is not usually particularly warm there and this race is taking place later than usual in their autumn. Because it is a street circuit, the track surface at Melbourne's Albert Park track tends to be dirty, so it could be hard to find grip, especially in the first lap of qualifying. But I do like the circuit – it is one of the most beautiful street circuits there is and also among the safest. The city itself is also one of my favourites on the calendar, so it all combines to make the Australian Grand Prix an exciting event. A difficult weekend awaits but I hope we can continue to push hard and use the data that we have collected so far this year to help pushing up the grid" Q: After problems in Bahrain it must have been a relief to score a point in Malaysia? Ralf: Well yes, but we knew that the problems we had in Bahrain meant that the race did not reflect our level of performance and so we were always looking for much more in Malaysia. We were in better shape and it was certainly good to open our 2006 points account, but we have much higher ambitions than eighth place. Q: What do you anticipate in the Melbourne race on April 2? Ralf: Hopefully we can again be at a good level. The weather in Melbourne has been hotter than anticipated and we will have to look carefully at the tyre choice. We have an important tyre test at Paul Ricard in France before the Australian race and we expect to learn more there. It looks like being a very competitive season but my race pace at Sepang was good and I set a fastest lap that was on a par with Jenson Button, who finished on the podium, and with McLaren. Hopefully we can start challenging for podiums again soon. sports.yahoo.com (19 March) Toyota achieved their first point from 2006 at the Malaysian GP. After showing strong potential in qualifying, Ralf's engine failure demoted him to the back of the grid but he battled strongly on a three-stop strategy on his way to eighth place. Ralf: "That was a very interesting race and it is obviously good news to have scored our first point of the year so we are very happy with today's result. We certainly could not have expected that with a three-stop race from the back of the grid. We are also happy that our times showed that we are again competitive. But it was a difficult race today and of course that does not mean that we have solved all our problems. We have the cooler weather of Melbourne next so we will be testing in Paul Ricard next week to be as prepared as possible for that. We hope to be able to keep up this level of pace at the coming races. We have to keep fighting and try to push for the podium again as soon as possible" Tsutomu Tomita, Team Principal: Ralf was originally scheduled to do two stops but because of high pneumatic consumption we had to switch him to a three-stop strategy. So to score points from last on the grid is especially impressive due to that fact. sports.yahoo.com (19 March) Ralf was not worried about suffering a repeat of his engine failure at the Malaysian GP. “Not at all. Our engine is probably the most reliable of all”. Ralf lined up at the rear of the grid after his penalty, but he actually qualified a credible tenth - and thinks he could have gone even quicker. “The warm weather is helping us here. We will be testing out at Paul Ricard (France) next week to see how we can maybe work better with our (Bridgestone) tyres” itv-f1.com (18 March) Ralf after losing 10 places in qualifying: “It was a pity how things turned out today because we were showing much better pace than last week. It would have been good to be in the top 10 here and I’m sure we could have improved further. We didn’t have any warning about the engine until it suddenly let go. That can happen – especially at a tough circuit for engines like Sepang after we put in so much mileage at Bahrain. But at least our pace is looking a lot better. We expected that but now we can be sure about that fact and we can concentrate on tomorrow. Now I’m looking forward to a good race. We’re starting at the back but we had some pretty good long runs in practice so we will try our best. It will be difficult but anything is possible” sports.yahoo.com (18 March) Ralf dropped ten places down the Sepang grid, after his V8 engine failed in qualifying. formula1.com (18 March) Interview with Ralf. Following your split with Willi Weber last year, you are the only top driver to not have a manager, at a time when contracts are the talk of the Formula One paddock. Do you feel comfortable and competent representing yourself in this respect? Ralf: Yes I do represent myself, but not by myself. I have a team around me consisting of my officials back at home in Austria. I also have Guido Piedade who takes care of my private PR issues as well as my marketing and commercial interests, which includes management interests. I’m very well taken care of at all the races. sports.yahoo.com (17 March) Ralf on Sepang practice: "We've been struggling for grip and the Bahrain weekend showed us we still have a way to go. But the car felt much better and the grip level has increased quite a lot. The traction and the tyres seem to be working better with this track surface and the heat. Our aim this weekend has to be to collect information for future races but we have already collected some useful data. So that's an encouraging start" news.yahoo.com (15 March) Ralf at the press conference before Sepang: "I think it's pretty simple to see that we have a lot of work to do. Having said that, everything is possible. It's a different track, different weekend, so let's see how it works out here. The car was a bit difficult to drive but that had to do with a combination of car and tyres. The track conditions should be a bit better for us so it should be a lot better here. At the same time we have to admit that we still have to understand the reasons for Bahrain, and it still hasn't happened yet" (Full press conference) Toyota Sepang preview Ralf: "After a disappointing performance in Bahrain we are now heading directly to Malaysia. Of course we will face completely different conditions in Sepang, where both drivers and engineers face the extra challenge of the heat and the humidity. I am going to use two to three days in Malaysia to just get used to the climate there, to work out and be in my best physical shape possible to go to the race. The facilities at the circuit are great, they are state-of-the-art and very beautiful. It's a very fast, wide, swinging track with good overtaking opportunities. I have had some great races there, so I'm looking forward to going back. I hope we can use the data we collected in Bahrain to improve our performance for the second race of the year" Toyota: 'Nothing's wrong with our car' They have asked for Bridgestone's help to find out what went wrong. Mike Gascoyne: "When you looked at our tyres afterwards they looked brand new. Bridgestone is as surprised as we are and it is clearly no criticism of them because their tyres finished second and nearly won the race. But clearly we did not make the tyre work. We have asked Bridgestone if, with the help of their data, they can give us any clue as to what we are doing wrong. It is unusual for the drivers to tell you that they are slow but that there is nothing wrong with the car. It's not as if we think we don't have downforce or anything like that, so hopefully we can get on top of the problem". Gascoyne's summary was endorsed by Trulli. "We could not put our finger on anything specifically wrong with the car, we just did not have any grip" Ralf finished the Bahrain GP in 14th... Toyota shocked by poor performance in Bahrain Toyota motorsport president John Howett: "We have to say that sometimes during the winter testing we hadn't looked that good but certainly we expected to be running at a similar pace, if not better, than Williams to be honest and we clearly weren't. We need to find out why. We can't blame the drivers so we've really just got to look and find out where we've got the issue. We really have to find out why we can't generate grip with the tyres. We are already working now right through the night and day to see if we can recover anything. Never give up" Ralf said the weekend had been a struggle from the start and expected the next races in Malaysia and Australia to be difficult as well. Trulli was baffled by the situation: "I just pushed as hard as I could for the whole race -- but the harder I pushed the slower I seemed to go" 'A shocking way to start the year' - Tomita (12 March) Toyota capped off a disappointing weekend at the Bahrain GP with a difficult race around the Sakhir circuit. The new package has struggled for pace all weekend and for that reason the team put the two drivers on different strategies, turning the afternoon into an effective test session. This decision was taken as part of a bid to come away from Bahrain with as much data as possible about how to get the most out of the cars at the coming races. Ralf: "This weekend has been a struggle from the start. After our problems in qualifying, we used this afternoon as a test session to collect data to improve for the coming races. I was on a three-stop strategy whereas Jarno was on two stops so at least we can now compare the data from our two cars. This way we can try to learn as much as possible about our new package. Of course this was not the way we hoped to start off the 2006 season but we have to take things as they are and try to move forward from here. We don't know where the problem is but hopefully we will soon find out. The early races will be difficult but all we can do is push as hard as we can to move back up the grid" Ralf qualified 17th at the Bahrain GP. Ralf: "It is very early in the season and the full picture of relative performance will only emerge after the first few races". Read more at speedtv.com Tyres worsen Toyota nightmare While the lower than expected temperature on Saturday was a problem for both Michelin and Bridgestone runners, it was a disaster for Toyota. Ralf wants to end career at Toyota (11 March) He told the Welt newspaper: "I do not know exactly when my career will end but if everything goes to plan, Toyota will be my last stop in F1" Ralf's warning over lack of third driver (10 March) He admitted that the lack of a third driver in Friday's practice sessions could cost Toyota this season. They finished fourth in last year's constructors' world championship, which disqualifies them from running a third car in Friday testing. Ralf: "Having to do the practice with only two cars this year will have an effect" Exclusive Interview @ eurosport.co.uk (10 March) Ralf has admitted that the team have little chance of winning a GP this season. What do you think about the chances of Toyota? Ralf: "We are far away from the title. For us it's important to win single races. I think this will be difficult enough" Ralf loses cool with 'arrogant idiot' Kimi (9 March) Ralf was quoted as saying he was "the most arrogant idiot of all time" - referring to Raikkonen's monosyllabic public utterances that would make Greta Garbo look like a blabbermouth. "People call him 'cool' because he doesn't say anything. If I ran around the paddock behaving like that, people would call me the most arrogant idiot of all time" Toyota 'not fast enough' states Ralf (7 March) Ralf ruled out winning the opening race of 2006, claiming that even a second place would be a 'big surprise'. Speaking to German newspaper Bild: “Of course I am hoping (I can win) but it does not look very good. Last year Trulli finished second, but it would be a big surprise if it happened again this Sunday. We are simply not fast enough” Formula One season preview Due to the cancellation of the Belgian Grand Prix there will be only 18 GP's this season, down from 19 in 2005. There will be three qualifying periods with five minute breaks in between (click the link to read more) Toyota Bahrain preview (6 March) Ralf: "It's always nice to return to racing after the long winter break. Of course we will have to wait and see how the first couple of races go before we can truly compare our position to the others. But we hope to take some points in the first few races and take it from there. Our whole winter test programme has been targeting reliability and that is what we will need early in the season. We've been working with the TF106 since November so we've had plenty of time to put mileage on all the mechanical parts. The tests have gone well and both the car and the new V8 engine have run reliably so we should be confident heading to Sakhir, which is a great modern facility. Bahrain will be hot but at this time of year it should not be exceptional. Either way, all the teams have so much experience that the heat shouldn't make any difference from a technical point of view. So let's hope it's nice and warm. After a winter in Europe, that would be very welcome..." |
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