Difficult to find perfect set-up at Hockenheim - Fisico

Hockenheim, the venue for the upcoming German Grand Prix, holds good memories for Giancarlo Fisichella. The Italian Renault F1 Team driver wants to repeat last year's dynamic performance this weekend.

"It was a great race! I started having some problems with the brakes in the middle of the race, and especially towards the end it was really tough because we didn’t know whether we could get to the finish. I was having to brake 100m early into the corners, but Michael had some tyre problems so I could stay with him easily. Then, my engineer gave me the all-clear with two laps left, and I got Michael going into turn 6. It was a good move – and a good result for me in the end."

"Hockenheim is a difficult circuit when it comes to getting the right set-up for the race. There is a very long back straight where you need good power and speed, then lots of slow corners which need good traction. The temperatures are always very high in the race, which makes life hard for the tyres, especially the rears. You need to find a good set-up so that the tyre performance doesn’t drop off too quickly on the long runs."

"We know that the Renault package is a very strong one, good enough to win races. At the moment, though, the tyre factor is playing a big role, so it is hard to make too many predictions about performance between the teams before we start running. But France showed us that Toyota are now at a strong level, so there are maybe four teams fighting for the podium. My priority in the summer is to race consistently, and get on the podium as often as possible. I have to beat Massa and Raikkonen. They are my rivals for third place in the championship and I know that if I am beating them, I am helping Renault for the constructors’ title too."