Saturday: HRT once again at the back of the pack
Disappointment for the HRT drivers who will only outpace, on tomorrow's starting grid, Michael Schumacher's Mercedes, who had an accident at the very start of qualifying. Neither Liuzzi nor Ricciardo were able to get ahead of either of the two Virgins and will strive tomorrow in the race to reach the finish with the best possible position.
Vitantonio Liuzzi – 22nd and 22nd
« It was a very intense qualifying session. Each lap, the track conditions changed with some areas still wet due to the rain and others that were dry.
We improved lap after lap, but in my last lap I lost nearly 8 tenths because I ended up behind slower cars. I think we could have even overtaken Glock. In the end, it didn’t happen, but we are once again very close to Virgin.
We have a lot of work ahead of us tonight. For tomorrow, we must stay focused on our pace if we want to beat Virgin in the race. I’m sure it will be a very interesting race and, if the conditions are the same, just as crazy as in Canada.
Daniel Ricciardo – 21st and 23rd
« As we expected, today was a bit tricky with changing conditions, especially during the qualifying. The track was quite damp at the beginning but started to dry after a few minutes. There was one lap where we could do our best, but I missed it.
We also encountered some mechanical issues that didn’t help us: it was a combination of things. Small mistakes cost us quite a bit of time in these conditions.
I gradually improved, but it wasn’t enough, and there are certain areas I still need to work on. But I remain confident for tomorrow. Races are always special, and I will do my best as always. It will be important to get a good start and see what we can hope for from there.
Colin Kolles, Team Principal
The team did an incredible job this morning as we had to change engines shortly before the start of the third practice session on Ricciardo’s car. Thanks to them for their great work, which allowed us to have a good day despite a very wet track this morning.
We knew that Spa would be difficult. We fought in the second sector, but the cars and drivers did a good job in the first and third sectors where overtaking is possible.
Like everyone else, we lost track time this morning due to weather conditions.
We look forward to seeing the race tomorrow and will once again try to bring both cars to the finish.
