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Belgian Grand Prix - Race Round-Up |
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Monday, 08 September 2008 |
Today's Weather: Cool and overcast with a late shower, air temperature 16°C, track temperature 15-18°C
Constructors' Championship Points: 42 points (4th)
Drivers' Championship Points: Jarno Trulli 26pts (7th); Timo Glock 16pts (10th)
Jarno Trulli (Car 11, Chassis TF108-05)
Summary:
Up to sixth at turn one but hit in the back by Sébastien Bourdais at La
Source, damaging his diffuser and gearbox. Suffered handling problems
as a result but brought the car home.
Race Classification: 16th (+1 lap)
Qualifying Classification: 11th Lap Time: 1m 46.949s (+0.912s in Q2) Grid: 11th
"I
was very unlucky because I had a great start and from 11th I was in the
top six, but I was hit really hard from the back and this damaged the
car. After that the car was undrivable and on top of that the accident
caused a gearbox problem, so my only target was to finish the race.
Once again I wasn't very lucky here - it seems to happen too often at
Spa that I am competitive but I have bad luck. I was hoping we could
have a strong race and score some points. This was
possible because we had a competitive strategy and a great start so
it's a shame that we couldn't manage to do it."
Timo Glock (Car 12, Chassis TF108-06)
Summary:
Moved into ninth on lap one but lost places with a heavy fuel load, due
to his one-stop strategy. Benefited from a switch to standard wet
Bridgestone Potenza tyres with two laps remaining and took eighth place
on the final lap.
Race Classification: 8th (+56.506s)
Qualifying Classification: 13th Lap Time: 1m 46.995 (+0.958s in Q2) Grid: 13th
"I
had quite a tricky race but I am pleased with a point because for a
long time today it looked like we would not be able to achieve that. I
have to say thank you to the team, especially the guys who work on the
starts because it was mega for both cars and in the last couple of
races they have done a perfect job. I couldn't make up as many places
as I wanted at the first corner because I saw Sébastien Bourdais slide
into
Jarno and I thought there would be a mess so I tried to stay out of it.
Then for the first couple of laps I couldn't get any heat into the
tyres. I struggled quite a lot and lost a few places. When the rain
started I made the decision to come in and change to standard wet tyres
and it was the right thing to do. It was not easy but I just got past
Mark Webber in the last corner and took the final point."
Tadashi Yamashina - Team Principal
"In
the end we have to be quite happy with a point considering what
happened in qualifying and earlier in the race. We had an exceptional
start with both cars but unfortunately Jarno was hit at turn one and
that basically ruined his race. Without this accident he would have
been able to get a good result because he made up a lot of places at
the start and we had a competitive strategy. Unfortunately his gearbox
and diffuser were damaged and this made the car very difficult to
drive. When the rain came late in the
race, it was a good strategy to change to the standard wet tyres on
Timo's car as this allowed him to finish in the points. One point is
much, much better than nothing and this result encourages all the team,
at the factory and at the track, to keep fighting. I am very proud of
our team today."
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