Double finish for Virgin, despite mid race gremlins
After a promising qualifying performance for Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock yesterday, his VR-01 was less competitive in the dry conditions today and having been passed by Kovalainen whilst trying to avoid Petrov, he lacked the pace to be able to take the fight to Lotus. He ended the day 20th.
Lucas had a disappointing day in his first Grand Prix on home soil. He reported a mechanical problem early in the race, which was identified and fixed but this necessitated a long stop in the garage and as a consequence he was unclassified when he crossed the line.
Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“Not a very exciting race today. I had quite a good start but unfortunately Petrov had made a mistake in turn two, went wide and I had to slow down, which enabled Kovalainen to overtake me on the outside. Then I was trying to follow Kovalainen but he was quicker and we did not have the pace to match them. We were not quick enough here and so it’s disappointing to finish behind them in 20th position. We changed quite early from the Option tyre to the Prime, which meant that I had to run on the Prime tyre for 53 laps. However we head straight to Abu Dhabi now and hope for better things to enable us to end the season on a high.”
Lucas di Grassi, Race Driver #25
“I really enjoyed the fantastic atmosphere at Interlagos today. The Brazilian fans were incredible, the grandstands were full and it was an amazing experience. Unfortunately the race didn’t go as planned. We had a mechanical problem since early in the race, which was getting worse and worse. We had to stop and investigate it because it was getting more and more difficult to drive the car. We realised though that the problem could be fixed and that is what we did, but by then my race was over and all I could do was get the car to the finish. I hope for a better race in Abu Dhabi where I will be pushing really hard to ensure we end the season well.”
John Booth, Team Principal
“A disappointing day today. Perhaps we had the car setup biased slightly too much towards the wet conditions of yesterday but nevertheless we simply didn’t have the pace to match our immediate competitors today. Lucas had a problem with his rear suspension, which we were able to rectify but it cost him a lot of time which is disappointing in his home race. Timo gave it his best shot and extracted the maximum from the car but unfortunately it was just not our day today, so we hope for a better race in Abu Dhabi next weekend.”
