Toyota discloses unprecedented details of F1 development

Last year, it was quite straightforward to estimate what was the best strategy because tyre degradation was not dominant in the calculations. Next year, anticipating tyre degradation will once again be key to determining the right strategy.”

Changing tyre supplier

It goes without saying that a change of tyre supplier between seasons is a major undertaking, and the desire to get as much early Bridgestone running as possible in part explains why the TF 06 was ready so early.

“Obviously we have to get working with new tyre technicians and engineers,” says Richard Cregan, “and new methods of reviewing the performance of the tyre and so on. But the ultimate goal remains the same regardless of tyre supplier and that is to extract the maximum performance possible from the tyre.”

The team had its first experience of Bridgestone when it ran the TF 06 car for the first time at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona on Tuesday 29 November 2005. It was thought crucial to ensure that data was gathered with the real 2006 car, rather than an interim car.

“We’ve learned quite a lot,” says Dieter Gass. “The first session was almost easier than expected, but we did a lot of preparation work. The initial coupling of Bridgestones with our car was straightforward, and everything worked well as we learned about the way to use the new tyres.

We made very basic and predictable adjustments, scanned the most important set-up parameters and collected important data in order to update all our simulation tools for the different tyres. On top of that we have done a lot of work to ensure that we have the same aerodynamic attitude of the car with the Bridgestone tyres. After correcting a few parameters on the car set-up, all went pretty well.”

The Knockout 2006 qualifying format

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