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The first race of the season usually throws up some form of protest, or at minimum a bit of a sulk, but so far in Melbourne, the diffuser issue came to a head with no consequences as of yet and the Toyota drivers have been sent to the back of the grid. Williams have also protested the legality of the Ferrari and Red Bull Racing cars. The Toyota issue came about after a routine post-qualifying inspection of the cars, where it was discovered the rear wing mounts were in breach of the regulations. Continue Reading

For the second consecutive day, Toyota’s Timo Glock has topped the timing sheet at the Jerez group test in Spain. Although he circuit was damp in the morning, the teams were able to get some dry running done in the afternoon, and Glock proved his TF109 is just as capable on slick tyres as it is on wets. After a productive 141 laps, the German was pleased with his day and leads Ferrari and McLaren as the test continues into Wednesday. Continue Reading

Rain was the order of the day in Jerez this afternoon, adding further to the lack of testing completed this off-season. Despite the precipitation though, most teams present in Spain went out for a few laps, some more than others. Toyota’s Timo Glock topped the timing sheets with a lap time just over 0.3s faster than Robert Kubica in the BMW. However, it wasn’t an easy day and the red flag was brought out on more than one occasion as cars spluttered to a stop. Continue Reading

After the third day of running this week, Timo Glock was the driver setting the pace at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain as the test continued with Toyota, Ferrari and BMW. Once again, the trio of teams managed to get some decent mileage in and Toyota are showing that their TF109 is quite reliable, completing a further 132 laps. This brings their total for this week up to an impressive 421 laps. Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa were also out in force for BMW and Ferrari respectively. Continue Reading

The first day of testing at Spain’s Jerez track and Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit got underway today, and all but one of the drivers were piloting their new 2009 cars. It was the first full day of testing for Red Bull Racing with their RB5, launched yesterday morning but not getting very far on its installation laps. Sebastian Vettel did better today though, leading the 2009 challengers with only Sebastien Buemi beating him in the slightly modified 2008 chassis. Although a gearbox sensor did go wrong on the new Red Bull, causing Vettel to stop early Continue Reading

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