Panasonic Toyota Racing 2009 British Grand Prix Debrief - Q+A with Jarno Trulli

The qualifying performance was definitely a very encouraging sign as this continued our strong form from Turkey. I was in the top four in all three sessions and only a 10th of a second from the fastest time in Q2, which is usually when the fastest times of the whole weekend are set. The car felt really good and I almost got third place, although I was happy enough with fourth. So that was definitely a very positive sign, it is just a pity the race didn't live up to our expectations.

What did you expect for the race?

From fourth place I thought we had a chance to fight for the podium and certainly we expected a strong points finish because I was on a very competitive fuel load. That all changed at the start though and after that the best we could achieve was seventh place.

What happened at the start?

We had a launch problem so the car didn't get off the line as fast as normal and a couple of cars passed me immediately. I fought hard into the first corner and managed to hold on to seventh place even though a few cars behind me had more momentum from the start. It's always a bit hectic in the first corner at Silverstone but I held firm.

How did the car feel during the race?

I didn't have the same feeling I had in qualifying. The car was sliding around a bit and I think this was due to the set-up we chose on Saturday. It worked great in qualifying but the weather on race day was a little cooler than I expected so I was having some issues getting the tyres working properly. I pushed as hard as possible but the top six was just out of reach.

If that was the last British Grand Prix at Silverstone, what are your thoughts?

It wasn't the result we expected but at least we scored points again. I have never enjoyed much luck at Silverstone to be honest and in 2004 I had the worst accident of my career there. I think the best performance I've had at Silverstone was last year when it was raining and I started 14th but finished seventh. The race result was the same this year but I was not as happy with my day.