Q & A with Jarno Trulli

Conducted and provided by Toyota's press office.

Q. Any non-Italian has to start with congratulations on the World Cup! Did that feel good?

JT: Yes! It was a bit of an odd match in general and I think both teams played well. Honestly I thought both teams deserved to win. How's that! Do I get a job as a diplomat? Being Italian I was happy, obviously, especially after all the news coverage about the scandals in Italian football. It's great but it doesn't change my life.

Q. A good time to celebrate your 32nd birthday in Magny Cours?

JT: Absolutely. I like France, it's almost a second home for me and I've always had a good time here, both personally and professionally. It was also great to go to the Pink Floyd concert at the circuit on Friday night. What with the race and the concert I think it was a bit of a carnival atmosphere - really special. I enjoyed the weekend but it's a shame I didn't finish it with a podium instead of a retirement.

Q. You qualified a strong fourth but was the session any different now that Q3 has been cut to 15 minutes?

JT: It didn't feel much different to be honest, just five minutes cut from the fuel-burning part of the session, which is good. Qualifying is still obviously about maximising the all-important single quick laps.

Q. Were you satisfied with practice and qualifying?

JT: Yes. We started pretty well on Friday even though the time looked nothing special. Unfortunately l once again someone in the middle of the track on my quickest lap, so basically my best lap was set on old tyres. But the pace is pretty good at the moment, the tyres were very consistent and we made a good choice for the race. I just hope that we can carry on working as well as we have up to now. The car seems well balanced.

Q. To what do you attribute the progress that Toyota is making?

JT: Hard work. In the last four or five races we have very much developed and it's also true that Bridgestone has supplied very good tyres. That was particularly true at Indianapolis and again at Magny Cours we had a very good race tyre. I think we can claim to be among the top four teams. We still need to improve the reliability because I have had a lot of things happen this year but, actually, never the same thing twice, so you cannot really blame the team.

Q. The temperature was very high at Magny Cours. Does that give you problems physically?

JT: All F1 drivers are very well prepared. During test days we do a big number of laps, often more 100, so when you arrive at the race there is no problem. Even when it's really hot, it's nothing impossible to cope with.

Q. What does Toyota have to do to join the top teams?

JT: I think that we have to start the year better, like we did last year. And then it's about gaining and using experience. But what's really important is that this team has extraordinary potential. This year, unfortunately, we didn't really understand the tyres at the beginning of the season.

Q. Do you think it will all come right next year?

JT: It's difficult to say because, again, we don't know what type of tyres we will be using. They will be Bridgestones of course, because next year F1 has a single tyre supplier, but we don't know the specifications yet.

Q. Was there any big step on the car in France?

JT: We had an aerodynamic upgrade and also some suspension changes but nothing major. It is a constant process of evolution throughout the season these days. Ralf also had a new specification engine but I was on my second race with the Indy-spec engine and will have the new one at Hockenheim.

Q. Will you be staying with the team next year?

JT: We have been in consultation with the team for some time and have reached an agreement that is now down to the detail stages. I think it is important to take a stable situation and develop everything to the best of your ability. That's an important mentality. You can have a year starting badly, as this one did, but we've managed to recover the situation, fix most of the reliability problems and now have a generally quick car.

All that's left now is to hope that the second half of the season will bring further improvements. I'm happy for both myself and the team because Toyota has been really working hard in the last few months. Now, step-by- step, we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

The car has been very competitive recently and I have to say well done to the team and to Bridgestone. The whole package is working very much better at the moment.

Q. What happened to you in the race?

JT: After losing the podium in Monaco I was really looking forward to getting a podium at Magny Cours. We were on two-stop strategies, which made our fourth and fifth places in qualifying look even better, and I really think a podium was feasible. I was racing really hard and I think I deserved it.

Unfortunately I felt a bit of a drop-off in engine performance after my pit stop and then the brake pedal went long. There was a problem with a leaking calliper and it just got worse, to the point where it was too dangerous to continue.

Q. How deflated did you feel?

JT: It was obviously a shame but I was very happy to have had the pace. We made a good start, so have made progress there as well, and I had the speed to run with the others. It's disappointing when you retire with a strong result in sight but it is always better to go home from a race knowing that you have been competitive. We are on the up and that's a good feeling.