Disappointing day for Spyker

After a promising start to its Italian Grand Prix weekend, the Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team experienced a disappointing free practice and Qualifying session today, with Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto lining up for tomorrow’s race in 21st and 22nd positions respectively.

The team lost valuable track time in the morning session after the practice was interrupted to allow marshalls to repair a tyre barrier damaged by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Then on his first run in the afternoon’s Qualifying session Sakon Yamamoto spun under braking and ran into the barriers. As just the nosebox was damaged, Sakon was able to complete one further run but unfortunately was blocked by a Super Aguri on his flying lap.

Adrian was similarly disappointed with his day. Completing only 18 laps in the morning, he could not put together an ideal lap in Qualifying and will start his first Italian Grand Prix in 21st position.

Adrian Sutil "Everybody thought this session would be better but in the end the gap to the group in front was quite big. I had a good second run that was about two tenths quicker but unfortunately my fastest sector times were on my in lap to the pits. In general the second lap on the new tyres always seems to be better than the first and perhaps I could have been two tenths quicker, but for sure this would not have been enough to take another place. So we are still 21st and 22nd and are a little disappointed, but I think we can come back stronger tomorrow."

Sakon Yamamoto "We tried to do two timed laps in the first run, but then towards the end of the first outing I broke the front wing when the rear brakes locked and I couldn’t control the car and went into the barriers. Fortunately though we could repair the car and do another run. I did a good lap time until the Parabolica but just before the corner I caught another car so I lost a lot of time in there. I can say that I am really unhappy for both myself and the team as we were OK in the morning and looking forward to Qualifying. I really expected more and a better result, but now it’s happened and we have to keep concentrating on tomorrow now."

Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer "A disappointing Qualifying session where we still seem to be struggling to get one lap performance. When you look at our long run pace we seem very competitive, but when you take the fuel out we struggle to improve our lap times and once again went slower than we did this morning. We know we have to improve our Qualifying pace but I am sure the race pace will be much more competitive and we’ll be able to race with the group in front."

Adrian Sutil (car 20, F8-VII/03):
FP3: 22nd 1:24.943 (18 laps)
Q1: 21st 1:24.699 (10 laps)

Sakon Yamamoto (car 21, F8-VII/04):
FP3: 21st 1:24.736 (17 laps)
Q1: 22nd 1:25.084 (8 laps)