Arno Trulli and Timo Glock wallpapers

Arno Trulli and Timo Glock wallpapers

Panasonic Toyota - Australian GP Preview

Australian Grand Prix - Preview

Panasonic Toyota Racing heads Down Under this weekend for the Australian Grand Prix on the street circuit at Albert Park; the first round of the 2009 Formula 1 season. The new TF109 car has completed 21 test days and around 10,000km kilometres since its first official test on 19 January, including a four-day test with the Australian Grand Prix aerodynamic package in Barcelona earlier this month. These tests produced very promising results so the team makes the 16,000km journey from Germany to Australia full of optimism. Jarno Trulli made his Formula 1 debut at Albert Park in 1997 while Timo Glock's first race with Toyota was in Melbourne last year, the fifth Grand Prix of his career.In 2008 neither Jarno nor Timo finished the Australian Grand Prix so a significant improvement is expected this time around.

Jarno Trulli - Car 9

"Melbourne is a great place to visit and the Australian Grand Prix is always good fun. As a Formula 1 driver you really want to race so I am pleased the season is starting and we can get on with the competition. I am totally fired up for this season and I am feeling very positive about our chances. The TF109 is the best Toyota I have driven in pre-season testing; it feels stable and gives the driver confidence but more importantly it seems to be pretty quick, even though it's hard to make too many judgements based on testing. We made a big step last year, proving we can fight for podiums and finish regularly in the top six so I am hoping for another step forward this year. We have more experience now and the team has worked really hard for a long time on the TF109 - we are ready for the season and I am raring to go."

Timo Glock - Car 10

"It's very exciting to be going to the first race this year because the big changes to the technical regulations for 2009 give Toyota a good opportunity to fight at the front. It's really hard to predict because you don't know what other teams are working on in testing but I know our programme and the results we have seen are very encouraging. Testing has gone really well and I have a good feeling for the new car. It's a different emotion to be starting my second year with Toyota compared to 2008 because now I am much more familiar with the team and I feel I can really start the season strongly. Last year it took a few races to find the right direction for me in terms of set-up but I don't expect that to be a problem this season. Australia is anyway one of my favourite places to visit so I can't wait to get to Melbourne and get the season started."

Body-clock problems for F1 Drivers

Lewis Hamilton isn't eating breakfast before early afternoon while McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen has blacked out his hotel windows and taken his phone off the hook.
There is more than meets the eye to preparing for Formula One's inaugural night race.
Qualifying on Saturday for the historic event will not take place until 10:00 pm while the race itself on Sunday begins at 8:00 pm, hours later than the mid-afternoon starts the drivers are used to.

None of the top names getting ready for the Singapore Grand Prix has raced an F1 car after dark, or so late, and to be at their peak new regimes have been put in place by team bosses.
Essentially, it boils down to the drivers remaining on European time rather than acclimatising to Singapore's seven-hour time difference.
"Singapore is going to be a unique challenge for every member of the team," said Britain's championship leader Hamilton.

"Our doctor has prepared a very precise schedule for the drivers to stick to because all the sessions are so late in the day. Essentially we must not acclimatise to the local time which is totally different to how we normally operate."

"Our training programmes ensure that over a race weekend we are at peak performance during the afternoons and as a result we are going to be staying in European time so this doesn't get disrupted."

For Hamilton it will mean getting up early in the afternoon for breakfast, having dinner at 1:00 am and going to bed around 3:00 am -- not easy when your body naturally wants to adjust to the local conditions.

"It will be very different preparation to any other race but we'll try and do the best job we can," he added.

Kovalainen is adopting similar tactics. "For example, the hotel rooms will be blacked out so we can sleep late into the day," he said. "Special arrangements will be put in place to make sure the cleaners don't come into the room as they would not expect people to be sleeping until early afternoon. "The telephones will not ring, all those kind of things. We will essentially be isolated from the normal workings of the hotel."

Toyota driver Timo Glock's regime is rather less elaborate. "I won't do anything special -- just go and race. I will set the alarm when I have to get into the car," he said. "That's it. I don't philosophise about what I'm going to do to stay in whatever time zone. I will get up when I have to get up, I will sleep when I have to sleep and I will drive when I have to drive."

Red Bull nightowl David Coulthard can see the benefits of staying on European time and is looking forward to it. "I am staying up late at night, I am going out to nightclubs, and I'm eating a lot of carrots because they apparently help you to see better in the dark," he joked.

McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh said getting into the swing of the different night-time routine was one of the toughest challenges facing every team in Singapore. "Inevitably, ensuring all the team personnel have the opportunity to get enough sleep will be the main challenge over the course of the weekend," he said. "For example, the mechanics won't be going to bed until 4:00-5:00 am, because we finish running late in the evening and there is a programme of work to complete prior to the next day.

"The reality is, it will be hard work for the mechanics, engineers, support crew, marketing operation and we will take measures to support this. But I don't believe it will have a massive impact on the cars and the drivers."

Kovalainen takes first F1 race after Massa bows out

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- McLaren driver, Heikki Kovalainen won his first Formula One race Sunday after an engine problem forced Felipe Massa out of the Hungarian Grand Prix with three laps to go.

Massa overtook Kovalainen and pole sitter Lewis Hamilton at the start and was heading for his fourth win of the season after Hamilton dropped out of contention with a tire puncture. But the Brazilian's Ferrari engine overheated toward the end and Kovalainen took an 11-second victory over Timo Glock of Toyota.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was third ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton came in fifth for McLaren and stretched his lead over Raikkonen in the overall standings to five points.

Kovalainen -- greeted by chants of "Heikki" from the large Finnish contingent in the stands -- became the 100th driver to win a Formula One race.

When Kovalainen crossed the line, team boss Ron Dennis told him over the radio: "Welcome to the world of winning. The first of many. Well done."

Kovalainen's win allowed Hamilton, coming off two dramatic victories at the British and German GPs, to stay atop F1's standings -- and eight points ahead of Massa, whose confident start left the McLaren drivers stranded.

Kovalainen said this week that he wouldn't help Hamilton even with his British teammate leading the title challenge, and that showed in his limp start that allowed Massa to pass easily on the outside.

Massa and Hamilton raced side-by-side into the first turn -- Massa even locking up his brakes at one point -- before the Brazilian stuck to his position to pull ahead and nudge out Hamilton around the second corner.

The two were out front on their own. Massa and Hamilton pitted within a lap of each other with Massa enjoying a three-second edge after the first round of stops at the 113-degree track.

Massa's lead was around three seconds as he edged Hamilton over the final two sectors of the twisting circuit before Hamilton's puncture left the race Massa's to lose. Hamilton had most of the 2.722-mile circuit to navigate before a tire change and re-emerged 10th.

Kovalainen, who will partner with Hamilton again in 2009, moved to within 7.5 seconds with laps running down on the 70-lap race.

Glock secured his first podium after overtaking Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber at the start. Kubica, with at least 25,000 Polish fans cheering him on, crossed the finish line in eighth for his worst result of the season to trail Hamilton by 13 points.

The teams and drivers have three weeks before the next race Aug. 24 -- the inaugural Valencia GP.

AP

The Batmobile lost a wheel...

The Toyota F1 team announced that they will team up with Warner Brothers to promote the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, at the British Grand Prix. Both Toyota drivers and cars will be decked out with artwork from the movie. But to be honest folks, I don't think Batman would be caught dead behind the wheel of say, a Toyota Camry. He's too badass to be a Toyota driver. The Batmobile and Bat-Pod will also be at Silverstone for the race weekend.

In Toyota related news, Timo Glock, who drives for the Toyota F1 team, will get a chance to get behind the wheel of a Toyota GT-One sports car, the same car the that took pole for the 1999 24 hours of Le Mans, at Old Time Grand Prix event at the Nurburgring circuit in Germany on August 9th.

Maybe Batman would like to drive one of those, instead.

Toyota join forces with Batman [Autosport.com]

Glock to drive Toyota GT-One [Autosport.com]

French Grand Prix - Magny Cours

It all goes wrong for Hamilton in France

McLaren�s Lewis Hamilton always knew he was going to have a tough weekend at Magny-Cours, after picking up a ten-place grid penalty for his pit-lane misdemeanour in Canada, but he probably didn�t think it would be quite this tough.Even starting 13th, Hamilton was at least hoping for points, but after 70 laps of the French Grand Prix circuit the Englishman trailed home a lowly tenth, thanks in large part to a drive-through penalty for straight-lining Turn Seven on lap one as he completed a pass on Toro Rosso�s Sebastian Vettel.Hamilton - and McLaren - believed he had already completed the pass before being forced wide over the chicane, but the stewards disagreed and decided he had gained an advantage. When he took the penalty on lap 13, he dropped from P9 to P13, effectively ending his chances of a top-eight finish.The only consolation for McLaren was a storming drive from Heikki Kovalainen, who himself had taken a five-place grid drop for impeding another driver during qualifying. The Finn came from tenth on the grid to finish fourth, with only some excellent defensive driving from Toyota�s Jarno Trulli keeping him off the podium.The result means Hamilton drops to fourth place in the drivers� championship on 38 points, 10 behind new leader Felipe Massa, while Kovalainen lies sixth on 20.

Stunning Trulli putsToyota back on the podium

Toyota proved their return to form in Montreal a fortnight ago was no stroke of luck in Magny-Cours on Sunday, as Jarno Trulli secured the team�s first podium for three years. Trulli crossed the finish line third behind the dominant Ferraris of race winner Felipe Massa and second-placed Kimi Raikkonen.Toyota arrived in France motivated by their fourth and sixth in Canada and on Saturday the TF108�s strong pace continued, with Trulli and team mate Timo Glock both making it through to Q3. As Sunday�s race got underway things only got better. After a strong start, during which Trulli was able to pass the Renault of Fernando Alonso, the Italian settled into third, a position he had to work very hard to defend from McLaren�s Heikki Kovalainen late in the race."What a great result and a great weekend by the whole team,� said Trulli. �Today was a great race, hard and tough. We had a good pace, even if we had to battle with some cars that were quicker than us. When the rain came at the end I had to take care because it's always difficult to judge how bad it is when you're in front.�But I got back into a rhythm and had a wheel-to-wheel fight with Heikki, just like in go-karts. The team made no mistakes this weekend, from the people in the factory who made the new parts on the car to the mechanics who did perfect pit stops today. There's still more to do but today we can be very satisfied. The team is doing a great job, the car is much more competitive and everyone is motivated. Things are moving on."Trulli�s podium is the Japanese team�s first since Ralf Schumacher finished third in the 2005 Hungarian Grand Prix and the Italian�s first since that year�s Spanish race. The strong result was a fitting tribute to the team�s former principal Ove Andersson, who was killed recently during an historic car rally in South Africa."This is a fantastic day for everyone involved with Toyota Motorsport,� said Toyota team president John Howett. �It was our first podium for a long time so we dedicate it to Ove Andersson, who did so much for the team and will be greatly missed. "Congratulations to everyone involved both at the factory and in the race and test teams who have worked hard to improve the car. Of course we must now keep pushing really hard because our pace is still not matching the front-runners but we can be hugely satisfied with this result."Although Glock eventually finished outside the points in 11th, Trulli�s haul of six extends Toyota's points' tally to 23 and bolsters their fifth-place in the championship standings. The team are now just one point adrift of fourth-placed Red Bull.

Robert Kubica Wins Canadian Grand Prix

Robert Kubica made a triumphant return to Canada on Sunday, storming to his maiden grand prix victory exactly a year after suffering a horrific crash on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The Pole led a shock BMW Sauber one-two in Montreal after pre-race favourite Lewis Hamilton took himself and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen out of the fray in an early pit lane collision.
Nick Heidfeld took second place and Red Bull's David Coulthard was third but the day belonged to Kubica, now four points clear at the top of the world championship.

"It is fantastic to win for BMW Sauber," he said. "We grew up together and thanks to the team for providing a good car - we managed to do first and second.
"Winning in Canada where I had big shunt last season and achieving the goal to win a grand prix this season... We have done it and I'm leading the championship, so I hope the team will give me 100 percent support to defend it until last race.
"It's fantastic for me, the team, my country and my fans. It was a great race. It is always chaotic here with the safety car and it is not easy. I have never struggled so much before, I was pushing so hard."
The win was the first by a team other than McLaren and Ferrari since October 2006 and fulfilled the BMW Sauber's pre-season ambition to win their first Formula One race.

Toyota's German Timo Glock took fourth place, the best result of his first full Formula One season and Ferrari driver Felipe Massa did well to claim a highly eventful fifth.
The Brazilian now joins Hamilton in second place in the driver's title race.
Italian Jarno Trulli completed a good day for the Toyota team with sixth place with Honda's Rubens Barrichello and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel filling the other point-scoring positions.
The race started amidst serious concerns over the state of the circuit. Patches of the track surface had crumbled badly during qualifying on Saturday and although running repairs were made overnight, many in the paddock were expecting trouble.
Those concerns translated into a generally cautious attitude amongst the drivers and the start passed without incident.
Nico Rosberg did manage to slip his Williams into fourth place around the outside of Fernando Alonso's Renault at the second corner; but it was a clean getaway for Hamilton's McLaren, Kubica and Raikkonen who started first, second and third respectively.
Raikkonen began to put Kubica under serious pressure, the Finn quickly setting the fastest lap of the race, but Hamilton was moving well clear in front.
His lead was erased though, when the safety car was deployed after German Adrian Sutil's Force India car caught fire.
As the field bunched up, the leaders ducked into the pits to refuel. Raikkonen and Kubica emerged from the garage ahead of Hamilton, but were held up by a red-light at the end of the pit lane.
Inexplicably, Hamilton did not realise that his two rivals were stationary ahead of him and after pulling away from his garage he barrelled into the back of Raikkonen ending his own race and that of the reigning world champion.
"I don't know what happened to be honest," Hamilton said. "I was comfortably in the lead, it was looking like an easy win. Then I went in for the pit stop. It was not a good stop and I saw the two guys in front of me battling in the pit lane.
"I saw the red light but by that time it was a bit late. It was not exactly a racing incident as such, it was unfortunate.
"It was one of those things. It is different to if you crash into the wall and you are angry. It is not like that. I apologise to Kimi for ruining his race."
Rosberg was also caught up in the incident and though he was able to continue after some hasty repairs to his front wing, his chances of a points finish were ruined.
Heidfeld was now leading the grand prix, with Barrichello and Williams' Kazuki Nakajima lying second and third.
Heidfeld, his one-stop strategy working perfectly, soon pitted and could not stay ahead of Kubica who had emerged unscathed from the pit lane chaos. Kubica knew he would need one more fuel stop, so he pushed his BMW to the absolute limit to establish a significant margin between himself and his teammate.
With 22 laps remaining the Pole pitted for the final time, emerging safely in front of Heidfeld.
Scottish veteran Coulthard was now in third place with a mad scramble for points unfolding behind him.
There was no catching Kubica though, and there were scenes of joy in the BMW garage as he crossed the finish line to become the first ever Polish grand prix winner.

TOYOTA F1 Mail Magazine

New languages live soon! Buenos dias and bonjour,

The new Formula 1 season is nearly upon us and Panasonic Toyota Racing is delighted to be able to share the excitement in Spanish and French on our official website, www.toyota-f1.com.
A new season brings new anticipation and new drivers, with Jarno Trulli joined by Timo Glock and Kamui Kobayashi, and French or Spanish-speaking fans of Panasonic Toyota Racing can get all the latest official news soon. With 32 nationalities working under one roof at our factory in Cologne, Germany, Panasonic Toyota Racing is truly a United Nations of Formula 1 and www.toyota-f1.com is becoming ever more international.
This latest upgrade means fans can now stay up to date with all the latest press releases hot off the press from the track or the factory, as well as our regular behind the scenes features, in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. Apart from those regular updates, our multilingual website also has all the information you need about our team, including profiles of our drivers and top management and details of the TF108, the car which carries our team�s hopes for the new season.
If you would like to receive your regular Panasonic Toyota Racing newsletter in another language, please visit www.toyota-f1.com and click on the 'Newsletter' link.
Firstly, cancel your current English newsletter by clicking on 'unsubscribe' and entering your email address. Then, click the 'subscribe' box, select your preferred language and enter your email address. From the next newsletter onwards you will then receive the newsletter in your chosen language.