Q & A with Timo Glock

Timo Glock: Yeah, I am quite happy with it. The car felt pretty spot on and I had a good Q2 and Q3 - without any problems. I struggled a bit in Q3 with the tyres to bring them up to temperature for the first flying lap because Robert Kubica was a bit slower on the outlap compared to me, so I had to slow down and lost a bit of performance on the flying lap. But I have to be happy with P5.

Q. What about the second Q3 lap?

TG: Yeah, that was the problem where I struggled with the temperature in the last Q3 lap. At the end, I did my quickest time on used tyres and that is a bit disappointing. But Kubica, it was possible to catch him up, and maybe P3 as well - but in the end we have to be happy with P5.

Q. Pace wise in the last two races, it appears you have made a step forward. Has anything changed?

TG: No. At the end we did some progress already in Magny-Cours, but the performance is just going up and down and not consistent enough. Here, the whole weekend, the car has felt spot on, as I want to have it. And when I can put the car where I want then there are some good results possible. It showed this weekend where I was quite strong all the time. Q2 was really good, and I think Q2 nearly everybody is on lower fuel and the car is pretty good.

Q. You've played down the crash at Hockenheim, but how important to you is it to make a statement about your driving? You talked about being on the front page of Bild for days because of your crash, but now people are talking about you for the right reasons.

TG: Yeah, that is the reason why I am in F1. I don't want to be the hero on any pages because I crashed the car. I want to be there because of good qualifying and good races. For me it was just far too much in terms of all the press stuff that went on after the crash. It costs you so much energy to answer the same questions about that during a whole race weekend.

Q. And you had food poisoning after?

TG: Yeah it was even more effect than the crash itself. But I am fit now, happy, and I think it is the right answer to if I can trust the team and trust the car.

Q. How do you explain the crash, then food poisoning, to help you deliver your best every qualifying?

TG: I mean, I am now fit again and have no problem. I had a good test in Jerez, with 78 laps done without any problem, and there was enough time to get used to the car and get back in shape.

Q. How do you see the race?

TG: We want to be competitive in the race. I think strategy wise we should be in the same window as all the other guys - if we are one or two laps longer or shorter is the question. But we should be okay.

Q. At the start of the year there was a feeling that the car was good with medium level downforce, and not so good with Monaco style high downforce. But now, here, it looks like there has been a step forward in that configuration. Is that the case?

TG: We made a good step and made some progress in terms of high downforce level. I think Monaco, the pace was not too bad in dry conditions, although maybe not in qualifying, but at least in the Friday session. We make progress from race to race, slowly, but still continuing.

Q. Your Q2 time, was that helped by you and Felipe Massa being on the hards, and McLaren on the softs?

TG: My favourite tyre has been the prime tyre all weekend. In Q2, I had a clear outlap and that the reason for that good lap. I could warm up the tyres how I wanted to have it. The run after, I did a 19.7, or 19.6 which was just too slow - but the effect was the outlap where I had to slow down and the tyre cooled down, which was the same problem as in Q3.

Q. Do you feel you have more pace than BMW, and that fifth on the grid might be better than fourth?

TG: That could be positive for us. We have to wait and see.

Q. Judging by the speed Toyota have shown in the last few races, do you consider Toyota now favourites for fourth place in the constructors' championship?

TG: We come to weekend where Red Bull Racing are stronger than us, and we come to the next track where it fits more to our car. So there are quite a lot of up and downs between the teams. The car showed every time a good performance in hot conditions and the race hopefully will be the same temperatures and we can be strong again.

Q. Do you think the performance of the teams is more temperature dependent than track dependent this year?

TG: I think that is one part of it. When it is hot, our car looks quite strong, and it was quick in Australia and Malaysia.