2011 end of term report – Vitantonio Liuzzi

Vitantonio Liuzzi made his F1 debut in F1 in 2005, with Red Bull. Since then, his career has been far from smooth and he’s changed teams a number of times.
He joined HRT Cosworth at the start of this year and has done everything he could to help the team grow and to extract the maximum from the car.

Season review:

Released by Force India at the end of 2010 despite a valid contract for the new season, Vitantonio Liuzzi ended up racing for HRT.

The debuts were difficult as the Italian had to sit out the first day of practice in Australia while the mechanics were busy building his car. In such circumstances, he couldn’t qualify within the 107% and was not allowed to start the opening Grand Prix of the season.

His campaign started properly in Malaysia but he retired from the race. In China, he took the chequered flag in 22nd position. A gearbox problem forced him to retire in Spain but he scored good results in the following races: a 16th place finish in Monaco and a 13th place in Canada.

Unfortunately, Liuzzi’s season was tarnished by a mistake in Italy. He went off track at the start of the Italian Grand Prix and span, collecting Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov on the way and taking them both out of the race.

He then had to sit out the inaugural Indian Grand Prix as the team was keen to have Narain Karthikeyan behind the wheel for his home race.

Conclusion:

Finishing ahead of the Virgin drivers was the best Liuzzi could hope for in 2011. He did so, so can be pretty satisfied with his effort at the wheel of the F111. His 13th place in Canada remains the best ever result of HRT in Formula One.

Performance-wise, the Italian easily beat his teammate Narain Karthikeyan but was less convincing against Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian rookie finished ahead of him four times out of five and they were matched in qualifying.

At the moment, Liuzzi’s presence at the start of next season is not yet guaranteed. He is believed to have a contract with HRT but has not been confirmed yet.

Highs :
—  13th place in Canada
—  Helped the team to improve

Lows :
—  Collision at the start of the Italian Grand Prix
—  Beaten by Ricciardo

Nextgen-Auto.com marks:

— Olivier Ferret : 9/20

— D.Thys : 11/20

— Sandrine Bouchard : 11/20

— Jean-Michel Setbon : 10/20

— Average mark on the forum Nextgen-Auto.com : 10/20

—  Global mark : 51/100