BlogF1

Friday’s running has now been completed and the Formula One teams are undoubtedly pouring over data as I type, trying to understand how to improve their set up before qualifying tomorrow. And the driver who leaves Fuji Speedway this evening with the biggest smile? Toyota driver Timo Glock. The young German set his fastest lap quite early on in the 90 minute session and despite the best efforts of McLaren, Ferrari and Renault, Glock remained unbeatable as the practice drew to a close. Continue Reading

Shortly after the Singapore Grand Prix, Toyota lodged a protest against rival team Scuderia Toro Rosso as they felt Sebastian Vettel was unsafely released from his pitstop in to the path of Timo Glock. Despite Glock finishing ahead of Vettel in the race - so any punishment to the recent race winner won’t effect Glock’s result - it would have enabled a larger gap between the two teams in the constructors battle. Continue Reading

Timo Glock has avoided feeling the wrath of the stewards after Nick Heidfeld complained of his fellow German’s driving. During qualifying, Glock forced Heidfeld off his racing line, the result for the BMW driver was a lock-up and time lost. Although Heidfeld’s lap was destoyed, he was running the prime tyre at the time and had the ability to set another lap before the grip was gone. Nick Heidfeld managed a good lap the second time around but was absolutely furious with the Toyota pilot, gesturing so from the cockpit of hs car. Continue Reading

Toyota have now discovered what caused Timo Glock’s heavy accident at the German Grand Prix last weekend. The German driver was just coming onto the main straight when his TF108 veered quite violently over the right towards the pitwall. His car took substantial damage as it hit the wall backwards and then skated down the track and onto the other side before coming to a rest. Glock was uninjured, but went to hospital for a precautionary check-up. Toyota now know what caused the incident. Continue Reading

The 2008 Australian Grand Prix couldn’t have been much better in terms of on-track action and excitement. The drama didn’t end at the chequered flag either, as Rubens Barrichello was under investigation for leaving the pitlane when he shouldn’t have. Also being punished after race is Kazuki Nakajima, reprimanded for his incident with third-place finisher Nico Rosberg. Here are a few more thoughts on the season opener in Australia. Continue Reading

For those brave enough to stay up until the unearthly hours of the morning, or to those who wisely got some shut-eye earlier in the day, here are a few updates to take note of during the upcoming Australian Grand Prix. Continue Reading

Every season brings with it a few young hopefuls, eager to learn and show off their driving talent while trying not to get swamped among the media, PR, and general business of racing motor cars. These particularly entrants are known as the rookies, and presuming Super Aguri stay with Sato and Davidson, 2008 will see two brand new stars join the grid, and a further two who have completed only a few races between them. Continue Reading

The 2008 season will be Toyota’s seventh in Formula One and it could prove to be very important for the future of the squad. Since their inaugural season in 2002, the highly-funded team have have failed to score a victory and have only been on the podium four times, each occasion being a third place finish, 75% of which were during their most successful year to date - 2005. The bosses are looking very carefully at the team, weighing up the pros and cons of continued investment in what is little more than a mobile advertising board. Continue Reading

The third day of testing at Jerez came to its conclusion a short while ago, and despite the drizzly weather (or maybe because of it) Timo Glock managed to place his Toyota at the top of the tables. The German completed 96 laps and finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton, partnering his team mate Heikki Kovalainen for today. And the top three was rounded off with Fernando Alonso, only completing 49 laps on route to a 1m20.363s. Continue Reading

With the new Toyota TF108 launched, the employees at the Cologne headquarters have been busy discussing the 2008 car. The beleaguered squad seem confident that this year will see a turn around in the teams fortunes. I remain skeptical for now though, as this banter is thrown around every year, with added promises that they won’t do as badly as the year previous. And with a two season deadline to produce results, the pressure is on the Japanese team. Continue Reading