Italy Qually- Toyota struggle

Knock Out 1

Home Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Vitantonio Liuzzi was the first driver out on track in the qualifying. He set the opening time of 1.24.344. Jarno was the first Toyota driver on track at his home race and went into an early second behind Liuzzi-Jarno would need to go again if he wanted to go through to the second knock out, that time would not be good enough. David Coulthard in the Red Bull went fastest on a 1.23.453. Jarno went down to 5^th and Ralf’s first effort put him 6^th just behind Jarno. With 9.28 left to go in the session a red flag was thrown as Super Aguri driver Sakon Yamamoto had a tire delimitation down the main straight. This was very worrying for all the Bridgestone teams-which includes Toyota. Only 8 drivers had set a time and only about 3 of them had set their best efforts. As the session got back underway there would be a rush for all the teams to get their cars out on track quickly. When the session did re-begin Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Mclaren Mercedes Pedro De La Rosa were the first drivers out on track. Massa set went fastest on a 1.22.028-Massa looked comfortable to go through too the second round of Qualifying. Team mate Schumacher then went fastest on a 1.21.711 putting all the retirement talk which has dominated every news story this weekend behind him. With just under 4 minutes to go Jarno and Ralf were in 14^th and 15^th respectively and needed to go out on another run if they wanted to go through the second knock out. Jarno then move up to 6^th on his final run, a very good effort in front of his home fans. Ralf moved up to 12^th, that wasn’t brilliant but with little time left in the session and very few cars out on track that could knock him out of the session he looked safe. World Champion Fernando Alonso went into 2^nd place behind his World Championship rival Michael Schumacher, Alonso was showing a lot more speed than he had in the morning. Toro Rosso second driver Scott Speed went into 14^th place pushing Williams driver Mark Webber into the drop out zone. It got worse for the Australian driver as Liuzzi went into 17^th place and Christijan Albers in the Midland pushed Webber further back down the grid, terrible luck for the Williams number one. With seconds to go in the session Red Bull Ferrari Driver Christian Klien spun but luckily for him he was 15^th and through to knock out 2 but with his car being taken away by crane it was looking unlikely that the Austrian would compete in the session. Michael Schumacher finished the session on top, Jarno finished 6^th and Ralf 12^th. Liuzzi, Albers, Webber, Tiago Monteiro, Takuma Sato and Sakon Yamamoto were knocked out.

Top 6: M.Schumacher, Alonso, Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Massa, Trulli

Bottom 6: Liuzzi, Albers, Webber, Monteiro, Sato, Yamamoto

Knock out 2

Luckily both Toyota’s were through to knock out 2, but with the competition hotting up both Jarno and Ralf would need to up their game if they wanted to go through to the pole Shoot out. As the Knock out got under way BMW-Sauber driver Robert Kubica was the first driver out on track. He set an opening time of 1.21.617, Questionable whether the Pole could go through to the pole shoot out based on that time-times would tell! Alonso went fastest on a 1.21.526- Alonso looking like he has a competitive car. Like the first session Jarno was the first Toyota out on track and went 5^th early on. Kimi Raikkonen went fastest on a 1.21.349 and Michael Schumacher slotted into second place. Ralf slipped into the drop zone in 11^th place. And Jarno was on the edge of the drop out zone in 10^th place. Massa meanwhile went fastest on a 1.21.225. Toyota needed to send Jarno and Ralf out again, their current efforts were not anywhere near good enough. Ralf had now slipped to 12^th due to Massa setting the fastest lap and he was on track with under two minutes to go and on his final lap. He had to make this count, but he stayed 12^th, Ralf was out of the qualifying session. Jarno was out in track. He moved up one place to 9^th, but with Jenson Button in the Honda and Pedro Del La Rosa in the Mclaren both out on track and on quicker times through the first sector things were looking a bit worrying for Toyota, both were in danger of being knocked out in this period. De La Rosa went 9^th undoing Jarno’s work and pushing him back to tenth. What could Button do? Button moved up to 7^th therefore pushing Jarno into 11^th and both Toyota’s were out of knock out 2. Massa stayed top. Jarno, Nico Rosberg in the Williams, Ralf, Coulthard, Scott Speed and Christian Klien was 16^th as he didn’t set a lap because his car hadn’t been returned to the pits in time after his spin in Knockout 1. Ferrari and surprisingly BMW-Sauber were looking quick. Fernando Alonso had looked good but he could go better.

Top 6: Massa, Kubica, Raikkonen, M.Schumacher, Heidfeld, Alonso

Bottom 6: Trulli, Rosberg, R.Schumacher, Coulthard, Speed, Klien