Team reaction after day one in Monza (part 2)

Force India Mercedes

The Force India F1 Teams Italian Grand Prix preparations got underway today at the historic and atmospheric Monza circuit just outside Milan. All the teams prepare unique low downforce packages for this race, and with no testing, there was a lot of work to do.

As for several other teams, the priority was to evaluate the F-Duct, and Tonio ran both with and without it during the day. Paul di Resta replaced Adrian Sutil for the first session, and completed his first ever laps of Monza. As usual his schedule consisted of circuit familiarisation and the establishment of a good baseline set-up. During the session Pauls cousin and Indycar star Dario Franchitti visited the Force India garage and watched him drive an F1 car for the first time.

Adrian was back in his regular chassis for the afternoon session, and continued Pauls programme of set-up, aero and tyre work.

Adrian Sutil: Overall the afternoon went well for me. We did some general tests with balance and wing levels. The balance was OK, but we still not at the pace that I was hoping for and looking for. But anyway tomorrow should be a good day for us.

Tonio Liuzzi: It was a very good Friday. We did a lot of work, especially in FP1, to understand and take a decision on the F Duct, to see if it was a benefit or not. In the afternoon we concentrated mainly on tyre work. Overall I think the car balance is not quite right, we still have to work a bit on braking and handling. But we have got a clear picture for tomorrow, and weve tried all the different situations, with and without fuel, with and without the F-Duct. The others have made a step forward compared to last year, so its not going to be an easy race, but were confident that we can score some good points.

Paul di Resta (test and reserve driver): Its the first time Ive driven here, and Monza is clearly quite a special track. One side of the track is very open, and then you are in the middle of the forest in the other part! Its also different because its all high speed, and all braking. Its also the first time Ive driven the car in low downforce trim. Its a bit of a shock because the braking stability is not there, and braking areas are longer. I played myself in, and I didnt want to flat spot a tyre or anything, because the circuit was going to improve at the end of the session. I think its quite promising so far. As usual I would love to have gone out in the second session, but at least its another track Ive learned!

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer: We had great conditions in Monza today. It was a very productive day, with Paul and Tonio running in the first session, and Adrian taking over to run alongside Tonio in the afternoon. Obviously we are looking at downforce levels and rear wing set-up for the high-speed nature of the track. Weve been evaluating our Monza aero package, and generally were very pleased with how its gone. Its very close amongst the teams from P4 onwards, and overall we think our race performance looks fairly strong.

Toro Rosso

Sebastien Buemi: “We started the morning with some new components to try on the car, specifically a low exhaust configuration and an F-duct, which we are just beginning to test, even if it still requires a lot of work. After a few laps, as planned, we removed it and concentrated on understanding the car in the Monza low downforce configuration and the results were not too bad. We ran both types of tyre and even the Softs are good enough to do a lot of laps. It was a productive day, with answers to a lot of questions, which is an encouraging starting point for tomorrow. The car seems to have a good top speed down the straights, which is always useful here. Now we need to work more on the second and third sectors where we are losing a bit of time.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “We got through a lot of work today, as we tested a lot of elements on the car, which has given us plenty of data to analyse, particularly as Sebastien and I split the workload trying different things. I think we can be pleased with our day’s work, running the car with different levels of downforce to make a comparison, although I had to stop a bit before the end this afternoon with a technical problem which the engineers are looking at now. There is much more potential in the car and as we usually find more performance on Saturday I am optimistic that this will be the case again here. I feel much more confident in dealing with the special challenge of Monza than I did last year, but to be honest, I prefer circuits with a few more corners, even if it’s always nice to drive a Formula 1 car wherever we are!”

Laurent Mekies (Chief Engineer): “Today, we used the first half hour in the morning on Sebastien’s car as an aero test of our F-duct, doing constant speed runs. It was never our intention to run it for this weekend, but it was useful in terms of gathering data. After that, we came back to the usual programme, with both drivers getting used to the downforce levels at this track, which are the lowest of the year. Sebastien had a useful day, completing his programme, while unfortunately with Jaime, we had to stop him before the end of the second session, because of a mechanical issue on the car. Fortunately, in the morning he did some very useful work on set-up, which will give us enough data tonight to make the best choices for tomorrow and the race. We ran the low exhaust on both cars throughout the day for the first time and we had no issues with this. However, there will be a lot of work to do tonight to ensure the new system can be used on Sunday, because racing is another step. There were no issues with the tyre comparison, because by this point of the season, we have a good understanding of what to expect from the different compounds.”

Sauber Ferrari

Apart from the usual preparation work and tyre evaluation, both drivers used the first two free practice sessions on the famous high speed circuit in Monza to try the various options of the low drag aerodynamic package.

Pedro de la Rosa: "Today’s sessions were dedicated to trying different downforce levels and to go through the tyres. I think we have a good understanding of what is needed and, actually, we are better than we appear. We will now work with the data for some improvements, including a better set-up for the kerbs in the chicanes."

Kamui Kobayashi: "I’m afraid I can’t say much yet. I know the circuit well and I quite like it, but I had a hard day because I struggled from a general lack of grip. We have to improve that and we will."

James Key, Technical Director: “It was a little bit of a tough day with trying to get the most out of the car. The main reason is a lack of consistency. We seem to lack grip, which makes it difficult for the drivers to get the most out of the tyres and the car. We saw this particularly at the end of the second session, where it was difficult to get a decent advantage. So we need to work hard over night and see what we can do. We will definitely make some mechanical changes, and we have to evaluate the downforce level for tomorrow. We always felt this could be a slightly weaker circuit for us than the others. We have to work hard and see that we can improve for tomorrow.”

Lotus Cosworth

Race day in Monza will be a year to the day since Lotus Racing received confirmation of their entry to the 2010 FIA Formula One™ World Championship. The team’s performance in today’s Free Practice sessions showed how far the team have come throughout the season, and reinforced their position at the head of the new teams. A good day’s work on track and in the garage saw Jarno Trulli on home turf finish in 19th, and Heikki Kovalainen 20th.

Jarno Trulli: “First of all it’s great to be back home for the first time with Lotus Racing. We’ve had a fantastic reception here, and even though Monza hasn’t been particularly lucky for me, it felt great to be out on track today. We started with a problem early on in FP1, but the guys did a great job in a very short time to change the parts which weren’t working properly. They put the car back together fast enough to give me some track time in the first session, so thanks to them for that. In FP2 we got through the whole programme – we were mainly looking at tyre evaluation and setup work, so having completed that it’s been a positive day. Obviously we’d like to pull away a bit more from the guys behind us, and I think with some more work tonight we’ll be looking good for tomorrow and Sunday.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “It was a pretty good day. We had a bit of an issue this morning, but were able to identify the problem quickly and we only lost a bit of time. This afternoon everything went to plan – we had no issues at all and the car feels good on both low and high fuel loads. It obviously moves around a bit more in the low downforce settings, but it’s the same for everyone and I think our top speed’s where it should be so I think we’re looking pretty good for the whole weekend.”

Jody Egginton, Chief Race Engineer: “Excellent job by the guys all day, particularly this morning. We did the installation laps and then decided to make a couple of precautionary changes which meant both crews had to work hard to make sure we could get some track time. They did a great job and turned both cars around, which meant we pretty much completed both Jarno and Heikki’s programmes in the morning. In FP2 we completed a lot of laps, put a lot of kilometres on the tyres and tried a couple of setup changes. We’ve got a lot of data to go through tonight, but we’re pretty satisfied with where we are. There’s obviously a bit of cat and mouse going on between us and our nearest rivals with wing levels and fuel loads, but we think we’re where we should be, and that means it’s been a pretty good day.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “It’s really good to be back with the team after a few races where I’ve been watching away from the track. We started out with a bit of pressure, having to make some changes early on in the session, but that’s what we’re about – trying something and not being afraid to do so. This afternoon we ran a good number of laps and generated a lot of useful data, and as both drivers were happy with the car it’s been a good day. It’s a good day to come back - sitting on the pitwall it suddenly clicked for me that we’re one year on since we received the letter from Max confirming our entry. We’ve talked about it a lot, but it’s real – we’re now 14 races into the Lotus Racing story, and we’re here to stay.”

Virgin Racing Cosworth

The sun shone strongly and both Virgin Racing cars ran fault-free in today’s two Free Practice sessions for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza. In the first session, both Timo and Lucas were able to work through their programme to evaluate a baseline setup for the circuit, where low drag, and hence low downforce, is key. At the end of the session Timo headed the timesheets for the new teams segment, with Lucas less than two tenths of a second behind him.

In the second session, more detailed work was carried out with extreme levels of downforce and gear ratios, resulting in Timo setting the fastest speed of the session through the traps in the first and second sectors of the track. Both drivers managed to evaluate the Prime and Option tyres, although Timo was only able to use the faster Option tyre for the last two laps of the session. Lucas and Timo finished the session 20th and 21st respectively.

During the day the two drivers completed 92 laps without any problems and collected a full set of data with which the engineers can work to determine an optimum setup for qualifying and the race.

The team will take some time out over the weekend to watch the GP3 action on track, as the final two races of the GP3 Championship take place this weekend, and Virgin Racing has offered a prize of an F1 test for the best driver from its "junior team", Manor Racing. This is the most significant prize in any single junior formula, and with James Jakes and Rio Haryanto equal on points, it looks set to be an exciting conclusion to the GP3 season.

Timo Glock: “Not a bad first day. In the first Free Practice session we had a pretty normal programme for Monza, which went well and the car felt quite okay. In Free Practice 2 we made an aero change, which was really low downforce and not the right way to go, so unfortunately we lost some time. In general I’m happy with the day and there were no problems, so I hope the rest of the weekend continues like this.”

Lucas di Grassi: “A very productive day in which we tested various different setups and parts on the car. I’m very happy with the results we had and we have a clear direction for tomorrow. I hope the weekend goes as smoothly as today.”

Mark Herd, Head of Performance & Race Engineering: “We have experienced a very productive day with good mileage on both cars and no major problems. The unique characteristics of the Monza circuit meant that we had a little more work to do than on a normal Friday, however we completed our full planned programme, together with testing a number of new development parts. Both drivers are fairly happy with the progress we have made on the first day of running and our Cosworth engines ran strongly on a circuit that places a great deal of emphasis on power. We look forward to another positive day tomorrow.”

HRT F1 Cosworth

Two weeks after the Belgian Grand Prix, Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team is back in action making its debut in Monza. In the first practice session, both drivers of the Spanish team, Bruno Senna and Sakon Yamamoto, were able to get experience on this high speed circuit. In the morning, the Brazilian ended up 22nd (1.28.256) and the Japanese finished 24th (1.29.870). The second practice wasn’t trouble free as both Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team drivers had technical problems.

Dr Colin Kolles, Team Principal: “In the morning session, Sakon Yamamoto did some aero testings in order to find the optimal adjustment for the race here in Monza. Later in practice two, he had to stop due to a gearbox failure. Bruno Senna had a problem with the fuel system and we changed some relevant parts between both sessions. Unfortunately, the same problem appeared again in the afternoon and now we have to define it exactly as it was not possible to do because of the short time between the sessions. We are analyzing the data to be prepared for tomorrow.”

Sakon Yamamoto: “We couldn’t get as much mileage and data as usual in both sessions today, unfortuntely. But with this knowledge we got, we have to work on a good set-up for qualifying and the race. “

Bruno Senna: “Unfortunately, we didn’t do many laps today due to a problem with the fuel system in both sessions. But we are already working to get it all sorted out and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for us.”