Interview With Toyota’s Pascal Vasselon
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Aug 20, 2008
Toyota Racing
Question: What is the key to preparation for Valencia, an unknown new circuit?
Pascal Vasselon: In a way it is business as usual in terms of the way we prepare for a new track. We started from the information provided by the FIA to put forward some speed profiles and this time we got some additional information because there was a race for F3 and GT cars before the Grand Prix. That gave us the opportunity to collect some data. We sent a couple of people to look at the logistics and to gain technical data with regard to driving lines. So we are probably a little better prepared than for other new tracks.
Question: What are your first impressions?
Pascal Vasselon: For a street circuit it looks quite impressive in terms of run-off areas and the width of the track. The circuit is very, very wide and reasonably fast. We expect it to be in the mid range of downforce and quite severe on brakes. At the beginning we expect that the grip will be quite low but that should improve throughout the weekend. The downforce level will be very different compared to Hungary because the average speed is relatively high and so everyone will try to drop downforce while being mindful that the grip level appears to be very low.
Question: Do you have the feeling that Timo is getting stronger after half a season’s experience?
Pascal Vasselon: He is getting better and better, in both qualifying and the race, and looks very promising. He has been strong several times already this season and showed a particularly good race pace in Hockenheim, so Budapest was not a one off. Timo is obviously finishing his learning phase. Jarno (Trulli) was perhaps a couple of tenths down in comparison at Hungary but he was not quite as happy with the set-up, he had a heavier fuel load in qualifying and he was also on the second race for the engine whereas Timo had a fresh one. So both cars were very competitive in Budapest, which is very good for the team.
