GP Europe: Race

1. S. Vettel, Red Bull, 1:33:53.456
2. L. Hamilton, McLaren, + 5.042 secs
3. J. Button, McLaren, + 7.658 secs
16. V. Liuzzi, Force India, + 50.890 secs

Tonio put in another competitive performance today, but unfortunately he finished the race outside the points in 16th.

He made a good start off the line and moved up the field until the safety car came out on lap nine. To try to take advantage of the safety car period, he pitted as soon as he could, but he lost a couple of vital seconds while waiting for the completion of Adrian’s tyre change. Tonio gained a couple of positions to rejoin in 14th and climbed up a further position after a long battle with Felipe Massa.

After the race, nine drivers – including Tonio – were given a 5 second penalty for driving too fast under safety car conditions following Mark Webber’s crash. Therefore, Tonio dropped from 14th to 16th in the final results.

Tonio commented: “It was a reasonable race considering we knew it would be difficult to score points because of the starting position and there aren’t many overtaking spots. It was a shame we couldn’t make more of the safety car as Adrian did, but basically we came in at the same time and as he was ahead on the road. He was stopped in front of me and I had to wait for him to finish and then I got blocked by Petrov in the pitlane. That basically compromised my race.”

“It’s quite disappointing as yesterday we had good pace and we just couldn’t get the most out of it in qualifying. From this perspective we showed points were possible and we can look forward to getting some more in Silverstone.”