Many believe that Timo Glock handed Lewis Hamilton the championship. Some say its a fix and other’s say Timo’s Toyota ran into problems. Whatever the case, the Brazilian fans were not happy and the Toyota team had to leave the circuit wearing Brazilian jerseys and unused Renault uniforms so that trouble-makers don’t spot them. Here’s a question and answer session with the most controversial driver in the closing and most decisive stages of the 2008 Formula 1 season. Only you can decide what happened after reading this.
From Melbourne to Interlagos, Timo Glock certainly made an impact in what was his first full season of Grand Prix racing.
The Toyota driver notched up an impressive tally of 25 points and finished the season in tenth position overall. Yesterday’s Brazilian Grand Prix saw Glock and the team opt to stay on track with dry tyres as the rains started to fall a few laps from home. The strategy that paid off for the German racer and the team and created a thrilling conclusion to the season…
How did the rain at the end of the race affect your strategy?
“In the final laps we saw that we had the opportunity to make up some places due to the rain. It started to rain lighty on parts of the circuit with around six laps to go and at that stage everyone was on dry tyres. We took the decision to stay out on dry tyres even though the intensity of the rain was increasing we were sure we could make up positions when the other cars pitted for wet weather tyres and because it was only on the last couple of laps that the wet tyre was superior. We stayed out and I was up to fourth but it was not easy in those conditions in the last laps.”
What was it like in wet conditions with dry tyres?
“It was not so bad until the final lap when the rain really began to come down very heavily and it was just impossible. It was so difficult to just keep the car on the track because it was very wet and the car was basically undriveable in those conditions. I was sliding everywhere, with absolutely no grip at all.”
Were you taking it easy on the final lap?
“Absolutely not! It was completely the opposite; the final lap was one of the hardest laps I have done in Formula One because there was no grip at all and on dry tyres it was almost impossible to keep the car on track. I was pushing really hard to keep fourth place and if you look at the lap times I was actually faster than Jarno on the final lap and he was the only other car on dry tyres at that stage.”
Was it the right decision to stay on dry tyres?
“Absolutely no doubt about it. We were running seventh before the rain came and we would have probably finished there if it had been totally dry. Instead we finished sixth so that shows the strategy was the right one.”
Did you realise the significance of Lewis Hamilton fighting with you on the final lap?
“To be honest I was racing for Toyota and my place which is the correct thing to do. I didn’t even know that Lewis was directly behind me. The team told me that Sebastian Vettel was catching me and they kept me updated on his position but I was concentrating so hard on keeping the car on the track. I didn’t even know that Lewis had overtaken me until after the race. I was passed by three or four cars on the final lap and it was not easy to keep track of what was going on.”
This is the end of your first season with Panasonic Toyota Racing, how do you assess the year?
“It has been very positive for me. At the start of the season I set myself a target of scoring 20 points and in the end I have finished with 25 and a podium in Budapest, so I am very happy with that. The first few races were a bit difficult as I was adjusting to a new car and a new team but we all worked really hard to improve and we made good progress. Finishing fourth in Canada was a big boost for me and the team but the turning point was Hockenheim, where I was really competitive in the race until the mechanical problem. After that I was fighting high up the grid in pretty much every race and we scored a lot of points. But this is only the first step and next year I want to achieve a lot more, so we are already working hard to make another step.”
E.A. © CAPSIS International
Source: F1-Live
