Toyota discloses unprecedented details of F1 development

Both Ralf and Jarno are entering their second seasons with the team, and both are delighted with the pace of development. They relished the chance to try the TF 06 early, and make a contribution to its development even before the New Year.

“Hopefully this will give us an advantage for this year,” says Jarno. “We cannot say we will be the best, but for sure we will be very well prepared with the new car in terms of mileage and experience. We’ve tried to solve all the problems and get ready for the first race. Now we’re doing very well, and it feels good, although there’s still a lot of work to be done in the run-up to the first race and beyond. I am optimistic and confident.”

“Of course it is still very early, but the new car felt really good,” says Ralf. “Obviously, the power is lower but it is still a very driveable engine, with a nice torque curve. I am happy with the new Bridgestone tyres as well, but we have a full programme of pre-season testing and development to continue making improvements to our package. It is an intensive schedule with a lot of work to cover before the first race, but that is where we can benefit from having our car ready so early. We learned that last year and saw the gains. It helped us a lot in the first few races, and that’s what we are aiming for again.”

TECHNICAL DIRECTION: CHASSIS

The following section is a question and answer format conducted with Mike Gascoyne regarding the technical direction of the chassis.

What’s new on the car compared with last year?

“The front end is a development of what we did with the TF 05B – we very much improved the front potential with that car. And the TF 06B will be yet a further development of it. We also have a significantly different rear end lay out. The gearbox is fundamentally the same, but it has reduced weight and it’s stiffer. However, we’ve gone away from the rotary rear damper concept that we’ve had for the last couple of years to a linear rear damper. We’ve identified a damping problem with the car over the last couple of years, which we’ve now put right. When we ran the TF 05B all the drivers’ comments were that we’d made the front end much, much better, but the car was rear limited – they were just waiting for the rear to settle down. We had the linear rear damper layout coming along, and in testing we saw that the TF 06 was a significant improvement. It matches the rear with the front, and produces a more balanced car.”

The V8 is some 10cms shorter than the V10. How has that affected the chassis?

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