GP Turkey preview with Tonio

Tonio heads to the seventh round of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Turkish Grand Prix, in a buoyant mood following his points finish at last week’s Monaco Grand Prix. With Turkey signalling a return to the more typical flowing tracks, Tonio is looking forward to continuing the good form he showed on similar circuits in the earlier part of the year.

Monaco was a good race for you, with Q3 for the second time this year and then points again. How would you review this race?
“I think it was a very productive weekend. On Thursday I was not completely 100% but on Saturday we improved the balance of the car and it was pretty good for qualifying. We had a strong session overall and then got a few points in the race which is always satisfying. We were worried going into the weekend that there would be issues with traffic, but in fact we handled the traffic much better in Monaco and I didn’t see a single car on the runs, whereas in some races I got caught and then lost a lot of positions. We’re handling it a lot better now and when we got out at the right time in the right position we definitely saw the benefits.”

Turkey is the next round of the championship, a real drivers’ track – what does it take to be quick round here?
“I really like the circuit, it’s really fast with the type of corners I like, and gives a lot of adrenaline each lap. The most important aspect is to find the right set up and balance from the start, particularly with the super hard tyres we have this year. It’s always difficult to find the right set up and if it’s colder we could have some issues, but we are positive overall. We should have some new updates on the car as well that should move us forward to our competitors.”

And what are your expectations for this next round?
“The target is to get into Q3 and then score points. From the team’s perspective we need to try to bring both cars into the points at the end of the race. We deserved to have a double points finish earlier than Monaco, but for some reasons it didn’t happen, so we need to continue to put both cars the top 10 if we want to catch Renault.”