Jarno Trulli

MichaelH · 19 Mar 2006, 15:20 (Ref:1552775)

So we've had Bahrain and Malaysia 2006, the two races last season where Jarno finished second and really heralded Toyota's (brief) arrival as a competitive frontrunner. And yet a year on I really can't work out what's going on.

OK the car's slow. But Jarno has looked completely uninterested in the races. Ralf gets some stick for his performances but for the second race in a row I thought he made a far better job of a bad situation, racing well and salvaging a point, while Jarno trundled round and was only ever seen getting overtaken by other cars. He didn't even seem to defend.

I know he's a delicate little flower, if things are going wrong he struggles. But from what I've seen so far in 2006 he's got a real fight on his hands to keep his 'superfast but flaky' reputation. He's just been rubbish.

What do you think's the issue here? Did he have a problem or has he really been as bad as he looks?

Mr V · 19 Mar 2006, 16:02 (Ref:1552805)

Jarno's a weird one to work out, and since Japan last year (iirc) when Toyota bought out their updated car (yes, i know this years is a brand new car, but it's an evolution of their last car) Jarno's been, how shall i put this, anonymous, in the races.

wi11iamm · 19 Mar 2006, 16:31 (Ref:1552821)

He had a problem, his suffered a broken diffuser when someone hit him at the start.

maximus · 19 Mar 2006, 16:33 (Ref:1552823)

I don't want to turn this into a driver bash but.....

I've never rated Jarno that highly, he's a brilliant qualifier and he can win races. (he was sublime at Monaco in 2004) However, if there isn't anything going for him, he seems to lose interest and becomes inconsistant and slow. Today was evidence of that. A proper race driver should keep pushing no matter what and this seems to be something Jarno lacks at times.

wi11iamm · 19 Mar 2006, 16:35 (Ref:1552827)

To be fair to Jarno the broken diffuser would have destroyed the already suspect! balance of the car.

JeremySmith · 19 Mar 2006, 17:05 (Ref:1552847)

In all fairness Jarno is doing what he is contracted to do, what is he to say exactly to the press or others. He is making the best of a poor situation.. If Toyota have some real design issues. What can the driver do?

Jordi · 19 Mar 2006, 17:22 (Ref:1552855)

Liuzzi had to come into the pits in the first lap, so probably it was him who hit the Toyota. I don't think he did bad, he and Ralf were 8th and 9th, it's not like he was 15th or so...

Silk Cut Jaguar · 19 Mar 2006, 19:12 (Ref:1552902)

Toyota did better than the last week, so as a driver Jarno couldn't really have achieved much more this weekend. I was surprised at how half hearted his defence attempts were during the race but if he had a broken diffuser it's somewhat understandable he just wanted to bring the car home with no more dramas.

Hugh Jarce · 19 Mar 2006, 19:57 (Ref:1552964)

Agreed!

If he was not able to compete, why inhibit others who clearly are going faster? Mind you I can think of a few nutcases who would 'double move' and fight others off.

It will be interesting to see how the season pans out - Toyota have never been patient with drivers and with big money and potentially big names available - he is going to have to have points and podiums during the year to keep people happy.

Suze · 19 Mar 2006, 23:13 (Ref:1553167)

Jarno....he is a different one. It was the way he left soooo much room for himself to be overtaken on three consecutive laps that confused me slightly.

Knowlesy · 19 Mar 2006, 23:18 (Ref:1553173)

Nothing confusing, it was just complete disinterest. Plain to see.

Very dissapointing from Jarno. He's a better racer than people give him credit for, but some of his later performances make statements like that harder to justify.

Today: yes he had a broken diffuser, but he can still put up a fight if he wants. But he didn't and that's somewhat sad.

Suze · 19 Mar 2006, 23:20 (Ref:1553179)

Ok confusing was the wrong word...disinterested shows it.

You've got the point there though - he can and will put up a fight when he can be bothered - but the reason people don't necessarily give him the credit is because of performances like today.

KE30MAN · 19 Mar 2006, 23:26 (Ref:1553189)

The car was also not particulalrly impressive in a straight line either.

If he had of blocked like a mad man, he would be getting criticism of a differnent nature.

Suze · 19 Mar 2006, 23:28 (Ref:1553194)

It's the fact he didn't seem to bother to block at all - there's a great different betweem can't be arsed, blocking and blocking like a mad man.

mac · 20 Mar 2006, 09:06 (Ref:1553640)

Why would Jarno bother defending exhuberantly if he had a damaged car and the guy behind him is clearly MUCH faster?

I too would have liked to have seen a bit more tiger, but I'm not gonna throw stones for that - his car was way out of its depth there.

FPV GTHO · 20 Mar 2006, 10:16 (Ref:1553909)

Both Webber and Heidfeld drove their arses off last year when the Williams was up the ****, theres no excuse for Trulli IMO. Ralf proved that you can get something if you keep your nose down

BootsOntheSide · 20 Mar 2006, 10:39 (Ref:1553933)

Did either Nick or Mark ever take any kind of result with a damaged car? The broken diffuser would severely affect the car's handling, and from that point he was not racing on a level playing field with Ralf.

dsg · 20 Mar 2006, 11:30 (Ref:1554161)

Mark did fairly well while sustaining from 2nd degree burns, but he didn't quite get to 9th.

FPV GTHO · 20 Mar 2006, 11:36 (Ref:1554165)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Did either Nick or Mark ever take any kind of result with a damaged car? The broken diffuser would severely affect the car's handling, and from that point he was not racing on a level playing field with Ralf.

Results, im not sure. Something about Webber, broken diffuser and Monza rings a bell but im probably wrong. My point was more aimed at the fact neither driver appeared to give up and just see out the race. It seems the same cant be said for Trulli so far this year. As long as Ralf keeps giving it a serious go, its making Trulli look worse

ASCII Man · 20 Mar 2006, 12:07 (Ref:1554172)

If he would've fought back and spun off, possibly taking someone off with him, everyone here would be criticising him for being reckless with a damaged car.

It's a no win situation for Jarno on this one.

Knowlesy · 20 Mar 2006, 16:28 (Ref:1555016)

Alonso had a damaged diffuser at Nurburgring last year I believe.

He eventually pushed Kimi into errors, taking a win.

avsfan733 · 20 Mar 2006, 16:34 (Ref:1555019)

damage is a relative term though... maybe Alonso had hit a curb to hard and damaged a few strakes ... Getting run up the rear is liable to just completely destroy the thing punch a hole in it misalign it whatever. and taking away most of your rear downforce is going to significantly inhibit your ability to drive the car and defend under braking (rear wheels locking) and in corners (oversteering)

On the other hand he has seemed to be pretty much a ghost but I think a lot of that has to do with where the media coverage is. Its on the top teams and if Toyota isn't a top team they go out of focus, or the focus is on team failures. Wasn't it also rumoured that the new car is more to RS's driving style?

Knowlesy · 20 Mar 2006, 16:47 (Ref:1555028)

He was bumped into at the start.

Montoya fought up to seventh with a damaged car as well in the same race, come to think of it. And he started off from stone last.

Maybe Trulli's car was hideous, but he still should have done something. Rather than let everyone overtake him so easily he could have taken lines that made it challenging to overtake him. Nobody expects a podium with that car, but they do expect a bit of fight from the guy in the cockpit.

I maintain that Jarno put on a very poor show.

ASCII Man · 20 Mar 2006, 17:30 (Ref:1555054)

I don't consider coming in 9th, just behind your teammate in 8th to be a very poor performance.
Could've been better though.

Knowlesy · 20 Mar 2006, 17:33 (Ref:1555057)

The finish flattered the performance, I must say.

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