Q & A with Panasonic Toyota's Timo Glock

Conducted and provided by Toyota's press office.

Q. From stretcher at Hockenheim to podium at Hungaroring. How does that feel?

Timo Glock: Just unbelievable. I almost had to pinch myself when I saw Felipe Massa's engine failing with three laps to go and I knew that I was in second position. I had pressure from Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari over the closing laps and I was struggling a little with the softer tyre in the final stint. We knew from Friday practice that the soft tyres would be more difficult.

I had a reasonable pace and saw I was 9 seconds ahead of Kimi but then the team told me that he was half a second a lap quicker. I just tried to push more while staying focused on not destroying the tyres. In the end he was catching me up but I kept cool and made sure I didn't make any mistakes. I knew from GP2 how hard it is to pass in Budapest and it is even tougher in F1.

Q. You qualified fifth in Hungary, your best grid position by three places, and then came the podium. How do you explain the progress?

TG: In Hockenheim we had a good race pace before my crash and we came to Budapest and just kept that speed. The TF108 felt really good from Friday onwards and we didn't have to make any big changes. It was just perfect until that last stint with soft tyres, which was a bit tricky. I'm in my first full F1 championship and with just half a season gone I'm on the podium! It feels great - it was a perfect weekend.

Q. You managed to beat Robert Kubica's BMW away from the grid and take fourth place on the opening lap. How important was that?

TG: Pretty important the way things worked out because Robert had a tough race. I've had to improve my starts because my reaction times were not perfect at the first couple of races. This time the start was really great. And actually, although qualifying was good I felt I might even have been a couple of places further up the grid. I was second fastest to Massa's Ferrari with low fuel in Q2 but struggled a bit in Q3 with tyre temperatures.

I actually set my best time on used tyres because I couldn't get the tyres up to temperature for the first flying lap of my last run because Kubica was a bit slower on the out lap compared to me and I had to slow down. I lost a bit of performance on the flying lap but in the end I was happy with fifth even though I thought I could have gone quicker than Robert.

Q. Has anything fundamentally changed to help your performance?

TG: I don't like an understeering car and that was a problem sometimes this season. But in Hockenheim and Budapest the feel of the car was much more in my direction and better suited my driving style. I could just put the car where I wanted to in a corner and that was the case in both qualifying and the race.

Q. Were there any after effects following your Hockenheim crash?

TG: No. Until I came into the medical centre I was sure that maybe I made a mistake and ran a bit too wide over the kerb with a heavy-fuelled car. I had felt some bottoming and so I thought it might be my own mistake. But then the team told me that the rear suspension collapsed and that was the reason for the crash. When I saw it for the first time it looked more spectacular than it felt in the car. For sure it was a bit painful on the back in the first impact and I must have breathed at the wrong moment because I was a bit winded. But I was ready to go home from hospital that night although it was standard practice to keep me overnight for observation.

Q. What did it feel like to be front page news for a few days?

TG: Actually, answering all the same questions probably took more energy out of me than the crash. I want to make the news for race results, not accidents! In fact, what was worse was a minor case of food poisoning I picked up at the Jerez test the week after. The heat was no issue in Hungary but when I drank quite a lot throughout the race I again had a few problems with my stomach. I wasn't feeling perfect after the race but the heat wasn't the biggest problem.

Q. Do you think the team is well placed now to finish fourth in the constructors' championship?

TG: The grid is very competitive and at one circuit or in certain conditions Red Bull is stronger, then next race it is us, and so it's quite up and down and difficult to predict. But the TF108 has shown good performance in hot conditions and we were always confident for Budapest.

Q. What do you know about the new Valencia circuit which hosts the next race?

TG: I've studied a computer game, walked around the track and seen some pictures from the recent F3 race there. It looks pretty interesting for a street circuit.

Q.What is on your personal agenda for the summer break?

TG: I will go to Los Angeles, to Monterey, where there is a big old-timer event where I will drive a Toyota sportscar. Then maybe I'll spend four or five days in LA and have a little break there. I will definitely watch the Olympics. I don't have any special names to support but the cycling is definitely one thing I will follow closely.

Why the fuel nozzel had fire on it at Hungary???

The 2008 Hungarian GP at Hungaroring-Budapest was an really hot race with soaring temprature's and which was agreed up on by the drivers,pitcrew,the visitors....and everyone present there...people also agreed that the fire in the pits especially seen during the pitstop of STR of sebastien bourdais,Williams of Kazuki Nakagima to name a few had fire in the fuel nozzle. The reason probably given by the teams were -'The reason for the fire was the volatile nature of the fuel and th high temprature at Hungary. But the inside story is diffrent.
The Inside Story-
The real reason is that as we all know losing position at the Hungarian GP(Hungaroring) is like never getting it back and vice-versa....The teams didnt wanted to lose any position of theirs due to pit-stops and/or wanted to gain a few due to the pit-stops too.
The way of guzzing the fuel into an f-1 car is-

thefuel to be inserted into the fuel tank is set beforehand,consider 5L....but due to the mechanical constraints the fuel comming out of the nozzel is usually a bit more than the set amount...as the fuel comes out really at a high rate of speed its difficult for the fuel delivery system to deliver exact quantity of fuel especially due to its liquid nature.
According to the right way of putting fuel in the car the refueller must not take the nozzel out until the fuel which is comming out is completely out of the guzzler but to save valuabe seconds the teams decided that they would remove the guzzler before all the fuel is put into the car......maybe they have been doing this for quite a few races but their trick backfired due to the high tempratures at Hungary!!

2008 ING Hungarian GP-Hungaroring-Budapest-Race-Results

1	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	70	Winner	2	10
2	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	70	+11.0 secs	5	8
3	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	70	+16.8 secs	6	6
4	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	70	+21.6 secs	7	5
5	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+23.0 secs	1	4
6	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	70	+32.2 secs	10	3
7	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	70	+36.4 secs	9	2
8	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	70	+48.3 secs	4	1
9	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	70	+58.8 secs	8
10	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	70	+67.7 secs	15
11	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	70	+70.4 secs	13
12	16	Jenson Button	Honda	69	+1 Lap	12
13	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	69	+1 Lap	16
14	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	69	+1 Lap	14
15	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	69	+1 Lap	18
16	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	68	+2 Laps	17
17	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	67	+3 Laps	3
18	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	67	+3 Laps	19
Ret	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	62	+8 Laps	20
Ret	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	22	+48 Laps	11

2008 ING Hungarian GP-Hungaroring-Budapest-Qualifying Session Results

1	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.376	1:19.473	1:20.899	12
2	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.945	1:19.480	1:21.140	16
3	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:19.578	1:19.068	1:21.191	16
4	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:20.053	1:19.776	1:21.281	19
5	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:19.980	1:19.246	1:21.326	24
6	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:20.006	1:19.546	1:21.516	19
7	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:20.229	1:19.816	1:21.698	15
8	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:20.073	1:20.046	1:21.732	18
9	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:19.942	1:19.486	1:21.767	20
10	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:20.583	1:20.131	1:22.371	19
11	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:20.157	1:20.144		17
12	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:20.888	1:20.332		15
13	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:20.505	1:20.502		16
14	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:20.640	1:20.963		16
15	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:20.748			10
16	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:21.045			7
17	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:21.085			9
18	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:21.332			8
19	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:21.670			9
20	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:22.113			10

Sun 03 August 2008
Race 14:00(Timing at Race Venue-HUNGARORING-HUNGARY-BUDAPEST)
courtsey-formula1.com
[to sponsor this post or the race results(which may follow tomorrow and/or the race analysis contact- utkarshkks@msn.com]

Friday-2nd Practise session timings-Hungaroring-Budapest-ING Hungarian GP 2008

1	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:20.554		35
2	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:20.748	0.194	38
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:20.760	0.206	33
4	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:20.928	0.374	35
5	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:21.009	0.455	36
6	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:21.010	0.456	36
7	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:21.138	0.584	46
8	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:21.363	0.809	36
9	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:21.505	0.951	42
10	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:21.581	1.027	34
11	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:21.662	1.108	39
12	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:21.733	1.179	43
13	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:21.837	1.283	34
14	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:21.902	1.348	33
15	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:21.955	1.401	41
16	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:22.150	1.596	41
17	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:22.197	1.643	36
18	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:22.358	1.804	37
19	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:22.448	1.894	33
20	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:22.945	2.391	5

Friday-1st Practise session timings-Hungaroring-Budapest-ING Hungarian GP 2008

1	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:20.981		19
2	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:21.345	0.364	21
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:21.410	0.429	17
4	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:21.535	0.554	18
5	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:21.802	0.821	18
6	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:21.931	0.950	22
7	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:22.267	1.286	18
8	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:22.326	1.345	19
9	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:22.370	1.389	22
10	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:22.457	1.476	25
11	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:22.654	1.673	23
12	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:22.700	1.719	16
13	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:22.900	1.919	26
14	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:22.917	1.936	27
15	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:23.093	2.112	26
16	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:23.147	2.166	21
17	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:23.274	2.293	22
18	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:23.353	2.372	25
19	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:23.459	2.478	28
20	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:23.923	2.942	4

Hugarian GP

click to enlarge image

The first Hungarian Grand Prix (Hungarian: Magyar Nagydíj) was held on June 21, 1936 over a 3.1-mile (5.0 km) track laid out in Népliget^[1], a park in Budapest. The Mercedes-Benz, Auto Union, and Ferrari teams all sent three cars and the event drew a very large crowd. However, politics and the ensuing war meant the end of Grand Prix motor racing in the country for fifty years.

A major coup by Bernie Ecclestone, the 1986 Hungarian Grand Prix was the first Formula One race to take place behind the Iron Curtain. Held at the twisty Hungaroring near Budapest, the race has been a mainstay of the racing calendar. Run in the heat of a central European summer, it also holds the distinction of being the only current Grand Prix venue that had never seen a wet race up until the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix. The first Grand Prix saw 200,000 people^[1] spectating, although tickets were expensive at the time. Today, the support is still very enthusiastic, particularly from Finns.^[2].

Due to the nature of the track, narrow, twisty and often dusty because of under-use, the Hungarian Grand Prix is associated with processional races, with sometimes many cars following one another, unable to pass. Thierry Boutsen demonstrated this perfectly in 1990, keeping his slower Williams car in front of champion-elect Ayrton Senna, unable to find a way by. The secret to a winning performance at Hungaroring, as well as qualifying well, is pit strategy, best demonstrated in 1998, where Michael Schumacher's Ferrari team changed his strategy mid-race before Schumacher put in one of his finest drives to build up a winning margin after all the stops had been made. Passing is a rarity here, although the 1989 race saw a famously bullish performance from Nigel Mansell in the Ferrari, who started from 12th on the grid and passed car after car, finally taking the lead in splendid opportunist style when Ayrton Senna was baulked by a slower runner. The circuit was modified slightly in 2003 in an attempt to allow more passing.

Other notable occasions in Budapest include first Grand Prix wins for Damon Hill in 1993, Fernando Alonso (in 2003), the first Grand Prix winner from Spain, who also became the youngest ever driver to win a GP and Jenson Button in an incident-packed race in 2006. Also noteworthy is Damon Hill's stunning near win in the unfancied Arrows-Yamaha in 1997, when his car lost drive on the last lap causing him to coast in second place.

In 2001, Michael Schumacher equalled Alain Prost's then record 51 Grand Prix wins at the Hungaroring, in the drive which also secured his 4th World Title.

The 2006 Grand Prix was the first to be held here in wet conditions. It also saw Mansell's seventeen-year-old record of winning from 12th broken, as Button took his victory from 14th place on the grid.