Liuzzi: "It’s positive that we both could finish in the points"

The Canadian GP was a race of mixed emotions for Force India’s Tonio Liuzzi. Having qualified a superb sixth on merit he had a bonus on Sunday morning when a penalty for Mark Webber moved him up a place. But it all went to waste when he was pushed into a spin by Felipe Massa as the pair fought their way round the first two corners. Having pitted for a new nose, and with no safety car to help him, Tonio did a great job to climb back into the points, finally taking ninth from Michael Schumacher on the very last lap.

We asked him for his thoughts on the race and the next event in Valencia.

Q: What happened at the first corner with Felipe Massa?

Basically Felipe kept closing the door, and I couldn’t disappear. I guess he was himself closed by Jenson. I was basically a passenger, I couldn’t move because I was on the inside. I went until the grass and still there wasn’t enough space, so we had contact. When he started spinning he went against my car again two or three times. Fortunately the car didn’t get too much damage, but we lost all the positions and of course I had to return to the pits for a new nose. Luckily the rear of the car was OK and I could continue. It was a shame, because we had a really nice race pace and I enjoyed it a lot, all the overtaking, all the manoeuvres, all the chaos. I always love to race in Montreal because of that!

Q: How do you feel when you start fifth and something like that happens?

I was upset, definitely! In a way you believe you have lost everything, because it’s not always easy to catch up to the points. But it was not my fault, it was just an accident where I was a passenger, and I couldn’t do much. On the plus side, I was able to get rid of the option tyres at that stop and in a way that, for sure, was a good thing. I was hoping for a safety car in the first two or three laps, as usually happens in Montreal, but it didn’t happen. So that was a big shame!

Q: What happened on the last lap with Michael Schumacher?

I had fights with Michael, with Alguersuari, with Adrian, with Hulkenberg, with Massa so it was quite an entertaining race! I saw that it was the last lap, and I saw that Michael was struggling a lot with the tyres so I used the chance, I saw the door open, and I went for it. I was sure that he would understand that you cannot risk anything when you are struggling. Fighting with Michael is always great because he’s really professional. We had some contact, but he was always correct, and at the end Adrian and I finished ninth and 10th, and I think it’s a great result for Force India.

Q: How would you sum up the weekend?

It’s positive that we could both finish in the points and I could always overtake. It showed that when the car is there, I’m there, and I’m ready to give 100%. We showed in Montreal that we’re back in business. The two races in Barcelona and Turkey where I struggled, we believe we know the reason why it didn’t work and we made some changes to make sure Montreal would be better. The team did a great job, because they kept pushing and they believed in me, and this is what I love about this team, because we are a family and there’s always big trust between us. They always push me to the maximum and support me in every situation. Plus they kept pushing with development. We brought an update on Friday night which helped the driveability of the car. We could have had a massive result if we didn’t have the crash in the first lap.

Q: You changed your chassis for Montreal after problems in the races you mentioned. Could feel the difference when you first drove the car?

Straight away, I think the result on Friday morning and afternoon showed that and we did eighth and 10th in the first two free practices. Saturday morning was good, and qualifying was great.

Q: You have never raced at Valencia. How do you approach a new venue like that?

It will be a new circuit for me, but I’ve already worked on it. I’ve started looking at videos and games and things like that! And we will have some proper preparation in the simulator, which is a good tool that we have. I think it won’t be a big problem to learn Valencia.

Q: Obviously it has long straights. Do you think that will suit the car?

I think it will be a good circuit for us. I think we can still fight for points again and for a good position in the race. I believe it’s not one of those circuits where you can really enjoy the racing, but we just have to try and make a really good qualifying and try to get the best out of it.