Tonio happy to reward team with points

Tonio says his points finish in the Canadian Grand Prix at least provided some payback for his team after they helped him overcome his qualifying woes. Although his chances of fighting near the front in Montreal were wrecked by a coming-together with Felipe Massa at the first corner, which forced an early pitstop for a new nose, the Italian was pleased with the recovery he made.

And, after hauling his car up from near the back to take ninth place by the chequered flag, Tonio was delighted that his team could take some reward – having brought him a new chassis for Montreal after discovering a problem with his old car after Turkey.

“We showed strong pace here, and showed in qualifying that we were there, so could pay back the effort that was made in understanding what happened in the last few races. We had a good qualifying and it was a shame what happened at the start, but I could not disappear. Felipe did everything and, at the end of the day, we had contact – and you cannot win the race at the first corner.”

“We had strong race after that, with strong consistent performance and good overtaking, and two points is good payback for the effort done. If we had stopped on the second lap then that would have been a big shame.”

Despite confident that his step forward in pace in Canada shows he and the team have got a grip on the problems he has faced earlier this season – Tonio is unsure about how well he will go in the next race in Valencia.

“It is a bit of a weird circuit, because it has maybe more run off than Spa, but it will be a new thing for me – as I have never driven there. So there will be a question mark.”

Source: Autosport.com