GP Europe: FIA Thursday press conference
Q: Tonio, a very good performance in Canada. Has the change of chassis made a huge amount of difference to you?
Vitantonio Liuzzi: “Quite a bit. I think we realised what happened in races like Barcelona and Turkey where we had a lot of problems and they were two different ones. In Barcelona it was clearer that it could have been the chassis but in Turkey we realised it was an aero problem. We just realised after the race, so we changed anyway to start again from zero to the point where we were at the beginning of the season.”
“It was definitely a good choice as we started strongly from Friday morning in Canada. We still have to wait for a proper circuit, maybe like Silverstone, to be 100 per cent that everything is back in business but we are definitely more confident that we are more in the ball park where we should be.”
Q: Was there damage to the chassis? What do you think was the problem with the previous one?
VL: “No, basically we changed the first chassis not because of a damage problem, but with a problem on the straight. We were scrubbing speed on the straight for some reason. We couldn’t understand why and that’s why we changed to the new chassis. With the new one we had a handling problem.”
“We tried many different things and in Barcelona we were just where we were all week and we couldn’t understand why. And Turkey was an aero related problem that was adding to the other chassis issue we had, so we still couldn’t find exactly the right problem, so we just went back to the beginning where we started in a strong position at the beginning of the season. That’s all.”
Q: Can Force India maintain the pace of development?
VL: “I think the team showed last year that our development curve was really high, maybe one of the best teams in development during 2009. I think they did a really great job and we are still improving. We are working… (becomes inaudible) and we have got a big programme of development, so we are pushing hard. We still believe we can fight to catch Renault in the championship. We will try hard until the end. We have to look at all the others and how they are doing as the other teams are not sleeping, but we are not giving up.”
Q: (Jaime Rodriguez – El Mundo) For all of you, are you following the World Cup?
VL: “I will let you know in a few hours if I follow it again. For sure we have a good chance but we will see!”