Q&A with Vitantonio Liuzzi after Interlagos

The Brazilian GP proved to be a tough weekend for the Force India team, and not least Tonio Liuzzi, who had a heavy crash in the late stages of the race. Now the action moves on to the final event in Abu Dhabi, where the team is focussed on its battle with Williams for sixth place in the World Championship. We talked to Tonio about Brazil and the upcoming finale.

Q: How did the Interlagos weekend unfold for you?

“On Friday we had some issues with the F-Duct, but the balance was quite OK. In FP2 we learned quite a bit about the tyres, and we were on it, I felt the car was good. We had quite a bit of fuel on board, so we were quite positive about the weekend. On Saturday morning I didn’t drive much, but the car was OK in the wet conditions. I expected to be close to the top 10, because the car was reacting well to intermediate tyres.”

Q: So were you hopeful of a good result in qualifying?

“I went into qualifying motivated. We didn’t change anything at all on the car, but it wasn’t like it had been in the morning. I had understeer and snap oversteer under braking and in corner exits, just in Sector Two and Three so it was really weird. We tried to analyse it, but we didn’t seem to find a conclusion on this issue. Adrian had a similar issue, both cars were not as we expected them to be. It wasn’t just about tyre temperature. Like I said, I was sure I’d get close to Q3, but it was not the case.”

Q: How did things go from the start?

“At the start I passed a couple of cars, but I got stuck behind Vitaly Petrov, who messed up in Turn Two, so I lost what I had gained. We struggled a bit with the strategy. We wanted to split the cars, one with option and one with prime, and it didn’t work for me on options. I was struggling a lot in the first 20 laps, with a lot of graining. Then afterwards when I changed to the prime we had a good pace, so I was catching the cars ahead of me. Then suddenly with 20 or so laps left to the end something broke at the front. We have to analyse what happened. I just turned into Turn Two, which is an easy corner, I felt the front left dropping down and I just went straight.”

Q: It looked like a big impact – were you OK?

“It was quite a big crash, but everything was alright, just a bit of a bruise on my ankle. We had to change the chassis as it was damaged.”

Q: How do you feel about the final race in Abu Dhabi this weekend?

“In the last three or four races we’ve lost a bit of pace compared to our main competitors, especially Williams. In Brazil they started on pole and finished in the top 10, and now they are one point ahead of us. And that’s our goal, to finish ahead of them in the constructors’ championship. It’s a tough cookie! Abu Dhabi is probably not a favourite track for us, but we’ll keep on trying, we’ll keep on fighting.”

Q: Did you enjoy Abu Dhabi last year?

“I don’t particularly like the track – I think it’s a bit too easy, with not many special corners. But it’s a great event, in the dark, also the facility is beautiful and Abu Dhabi itself is just great.”