This year marks Panasonic Toyota Racing’s seventh season with Formula One.

Host of the season opener for 2008 is Melbourne, Australia, where temperatures rose to a sizzling 39 degrees C for Friday’s practice. Panasonic Toyota Racing has a new combination this year, with veteran Jarno Trulli being joined by Timo Glock, both of whom got off to a solid start in the morning’s session with times of 1’28”913 (Glock) and 1’29”014 (Trulli) to finish in the top 10.

Things came to an abrupt turnaround in the afternoon’s session, when both machines hit unexpected trouble. Trulli and Glock headed onto the track as soon as the session started only to pit briefly soon after. As they went to return to the course, a problem arose with the batteries. Luckily it wasn’t anything serious and a switch to a new battery had them back out on the track once again. However, Trulli then spun into the gravel late, forcing him to finish the session with 10 minutes still remaining.

Glock, however, continued without further hiccup, going on to finish the day in tenth, two positions better than the morning’s practice.

Finishing in the top position at the end of the first day’s practice of the 2008 season was Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) with a time of 1’26”461.

Day two, and for Panasonic Toyota Racing, it was a day of turbulence for Panasonic Toyota Racing.


Practice on day two commenced at 11am. Not far into the session, a problem arose with Jarno Trulli’s clutch that saw him waiting in the garage for repairs for about 20 minutes.

With the repairs finished, Trulli managed to pull it all together to finish the final practice session on a more positive note with the 10th fastest time. However, in another turnabout of events, Timo Glock developed a problem with his gearbox. New regulations for this season stipulate that one gearbox must last four races, so a replacement cost him a five-place penalty.

Qualifying also started off on a somewhat unsteady foot; however, both Trulli and Glock made it through to session three, where the final result saw Trulli finish in sixth and Glock in ninth.

Unfortunately, however, Glock also incurred a five-position penalty for impeding another driver’s attack, which, added to the previous penalty, led to a total of 10, resulting in him starting from 19th on Sunday’s grid.

Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) clinched the first pole position of the season (his seventh to date) with a time of 1’26”714.

Fine weather greeted the 2008 season opener at Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit on Sunday.

In Saturday’s qualifying, Panasonic Toyota Racing two drivers fared well, with Jarno Trulli in sixth and Timo Glock in ninth; however, a penalty for an unfortunately necessary gearbox replacement before qualifying combined with another for impeding the time attack of another driver during qualifying saw Glock forced to line up on the grid 10 places further back in the field for his debut race.

Both drivers made it through the usual bedlam right after race got underway. Trulli continued in fine form throughout the early stages to be running within the points. Glock also showed he was up to the challenge, improving his position as the race continued.

Trouble was not far away though, and Trulli was the first to fall victim to it. Heading into the pits, Trulli exited the cockpit and the race in a disappointing retirement, leaving just Timo Glock in the race for Panasonic Toyota Racing. Having started on a fairly full load of fuel saw Glock looking strong and running in the top 10 by the 31st lap of the race.

However, Melbourne was not to prove favourable on this day for Panasonic Toyota Racing – in the final stage of the race, Timo Glock took a corner too wide and crashed heavily. He received a check-up at the medical centre after the race, where he was cleared to ready himself for the next Grand Prix in Malaysia in two weeks time.

With the 2008 season opener proving to be an unlucky one for Panasonic Toyota Racing for a number of reasons, it would be great to see some better luck shine on them in the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix.

Result:
Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) led the race from start to finish, securing victory in the first race of the season and increasing his career wins to five.