GP Italy: FIA Thursday press conference
Q: Vitantonio, you have done a lot of the straight line testing for Force India. I believe at the beginning of August you did 270km in one day of straight line testing which must have been thrilling.
Vitantonio Liuzzi: “Yes, and I think last week a little more. The team is pushing a lot for development and I think the results show how much the team is pushing and for sure straight line is not like making a corner here in Monza but it gives a good idea why we made such progress and why we are always so fast and so strong in really high speed straight lines.”
Q: So the team has really concentrated on straight line running?
TL: “No, we concentrated to put the maximum downforce with the least drag possible. I think we showed great development in this case and I think we have got a good compromise between low downforce and drag, so I think we can be in a good position here in Monza. For sure without the KERS it won’t be easy, especially here in Monza but we are really optimistic for the race weekend.”
Q: And what about your own personal feelings? Are you race ready? You have done a couple of A1 races and you did some Speedcar.
TL: “That is what I could do to keep myself as fit as possible. Physically you can just do your best by working out in the gym and do the maximum you can to keep yourself fit. We won’t know until I jump back in the car tomorrow but I feel pretty ready to be back and physically I feel fit and strong. Maybe here in Monza it will be a much softer start. If it had been Singapore it would have been much tougher, but fortunately it is here in my home race and it is a good way to start.”
Q: (Will Buxton – Australasian Motor Sport News) Who do you think is going to wind up as champion?
VL: “It’s difficult to say. With a lot of development of each of the teams from now until the end of the year I think that will count a lot in the final result. As they said, it’s pretty difficult to predict.”
Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Gentlemen, I’m sure you’re all aware of the ongoing Renault situation at the moment. Are you surprised that something like that could happen in this sport, or does nothing surprise you in F1 anymore?
VL: “There’s definitely a very fine line; it’s very difficult to believe, as Rubens said, that somebody would crash on purpose. It’s a difficult thing to believe that something would have been started like that but for sure, it’s a really soft thing to touch. It’s not a good thing for the sport if it’s true, and hopefully it will never happen again.”
Q: (Boaz Korpel – The Sports Channel, Israel) Tonio, you drove for Toro Rosso which was not so competitive when you drove for it, and now Force India seems a very strong car, so what is your aim: finishing in the points or the top ten?
VL: “Yeah, my period at Toro Rosso has been a great experience which made me grow up a lot into Formula One. In that period, for sure, we were in a difficult position because the car wasn’t competitive but it taught me a lot, growing up into Formula One with Toro Rosso at the beginning. But now I’m in a different position, I grew up a lot, I learned a lot even in these one and a half years as test driver and now that the car is getting much more competitive for Force India, I get the chance to start again in a competitive car. Fortunately, I have to thank my boss Vijay Mallya who has given me this chance in my home race, to race in front of my home crowd, and that’s a special feeling for me. But now I’m a more mature driver, I’m a different person from two years ago when I was at Toro Rosso, so I think I can maximise my opportunities much better and I really hope that I can help and make the team happy as we were in Spa.”