Panasonic Toyota Racing F1 - Spa Friday practice review

Today's Weather: Cold and overcast with rain in the afternoon. Air temperature 15-18°C, track temperature 14-17°C

Toyota's Best Belgian GP qualifying: 4th (Jarno Trulli, 2005)

Toyota's Best Belgian GP race result: 7th (Ralf Schumacher, 2005 & Mika Salo, 2002)

Summary: Electrical problems curtailed first practice while rain early in the afternoon interrupted the programme.

P1 14th Best Lap Time: 1m 49.625s (+2.341s) Laps: 14

P2 9th Best Lap Time: 1m 49.715s (+1.261s) Laps: 23

"It was a bit of a difficult day for me. I lost part of the morning session with a technical problem so I lost a lot of running when the track was dry and then in the afternoon unfortunately I couldn't do much because the session was hampered by the poor weather.

So in the end there is very little we have learned from today's sessions. I hope this will be a good weekend for us but of course it depends on how the car suits the track and there are many other variables, such as the weather and the track temperature, which do affect things. I hope we can keep up the momentum from recent races and be strong again."

Summary: No problems during a programme of set-up comparisons and tyre work, although a red flag and rain disrupted the afternoon session.

P1 9th Best Lap Time: 1m 48.997s (+1.713s) Laps: 26

P2 14th Best Lap Time: 1m 50.281s (+1.827s) Laps: 24

"Today was pretty tricky in general, especially with the weather which didn't make it easy in the afternoon. We still have to work on the car because I am not completely happy with the set-up at the moment. The cold conditions didn't help us.

We made a little step forward on the last run but there is still improvement to be made. We have to wait and see how it goes tomorrow. This is usually one of the most exciting races of the year so I am looking forward to racing here and even though today was a bit difficult, the conditions were the same for all drivers so I am still reasonably optimistic."

"The red flag and the weather conditions had a big effect on our programme today. The day was completely disrupted and on top of that we had an electrical problem with Jarno's car. Thankfully we were able to find it and fix it for the second session and we had no further issues. But with the rain drops coming and going the track was changing a lot from one run to another.

That made it very difficult to learn much about the car, but it is the same for everyone. It seemed like we were back to winter testing conditions today because I don't think we have seen track temperatures like that since the winter. With the hard compound Bridgestone Potenza tyre this means that warm-up is definitely an issue. Still, we are fairly happy and looking forward to a successful weekend."

Formula 1 is justly famous for high technology, speed and excitement, but it is arguably the progress made in the field of safety which has been the sport's most remarkable achievement in recent decades.

One example is the Head and Neck Safety - or HANS - device, which sits on a driver's shoulders and attaches to his helmet, limiting head movement in an impact and therefore hugely reducing the risk of injury.

Panasonic Toyota Racing team doctor Riccardo Ceccarelli says: "The HANS device was developed in order to prevent any cervical trauma, in case of a frontal accident. It reduces the risk of critical damage on the neck, spinal area and we have to say that HANS has done a good job."

- Toyota, Koeln -

Photos will be on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - FORMULA1