The only other team to score in Italy were
Toyota, with
Jarno Trulli bringing his car home in seventh. They keep chipping away at it, but they are not making the sort of big inroads in terms of improvements and progress that you would expect from such a big manufacturer. That has been a topic of discussion all season long - if not longer - and we still can’t see the results on paper.
I am sure there is frustration there, but they have just got to keep working at it. They had a change of personnel earlier this year and maybe they will find their feet before the end of the year.
As for
Red Bull and
Williams, both were disappointing…
Williams have unfortunately been plagued with reliability issues and that is really sad to see so late in the season. I am sure they are very unhappy with that, because it is costing the Grove-based outfit valuable points, and both of their drivers -
Mark Webber and
Nico Rosberg - have been in situations where they could score a good handful of points.
As for RBR, their form - or lack of it - is a bit more understandable, in that they have a new Adrian Newey-designed car on the drawing board and that is where all their resources are focused. They have also got a lot going on in terms of engine supply for ’07, and there is some stagnation in what they have got to drive this year too, because it is an evolution of cars gone by.
It is interesting to see that they have dropped Christian Klien already. I think he has done a good solid job, even if he has failed set the world alight. That has probably cost him his opportunity to continue with them and putting Robert Doornbos in, who is their third/test driver, is an interesting move.
How he shapes up in comparison to
David Coulthard will be worth watching. If he can get across in front of DC and make inroads, it won’t do him any harm whatsoever. If he doesn’t, then it will just be a fill-in for him until the end of the season.
