By Karl King/Toyota PR
June 4 2005

Dieter Gass, Toyota's chief race engineer talks about heading north for the GP's of Montreal and Indianapolis, both North United States.

The team have been working hard at Silverstone this week Photo (c) Ian Lockwood, RacingBulls.co.uk

Q: Dieter, what are the technical characteristics of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve?

Dieter Gass: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a medium-low downforce circuit with a reasonable high top speed over the lap. The car needs to have very good traction and a good change of direction to cope with the heavy braking corners and the necessity to be quick on the throttle and up to speed along the straights. We will need to give Jarno and Ralf a precise car, which means finding the right compromise on the mechanical set-up.

Q: What are the critical areas of car performance in Canada?

DG: The circuit's characteristics make it quite hard on the rear tyres, so we will be looking to make good use of Ricardo in the third car for our Friday tyre evaluation. It is one of the most demanding circuits on the brakes. In fact, it is second only to Bahrain for stress on the brakes. We performed well in Bahrain earlier in the year and did not experience any braking difficulties, so I do not expect too much of a struggle in Canada. The braking energy over a lap is close to that in Bahrain, so we should see similar wear figures and temperatures.

Q: Are there any good overtaking opportunities?

DG: Canada is one of the better circuits for overtaking. The hairpin is a slow first-gear corner just prior to the start-finish line, which is one of the track's unique characteristics and I think we should see some good passing manoeuvres there.

Q: Ralf is going out 2nd in the all-important qualifying session in Canada. How detrimental will that be to his weekend?

DG: Ralf's retirement at the Nürburgring means he will be the second car out in the new single qualifying session and that is definitely going to put him at a disadvantage. The Montreal track is partly a street circuit, so it is often dusty at the start of the weekend and at the beginning of each session. There is unfortunately nothing we can do to help the problem. Having one car go out before us will make a small difference, but nowhere near enough, as it normally requires five or more cars to go out before the track rubbers in significantly enough to improve the lap time.