Balance problems for Toro Rosso
The Scuderia Toro Rosso suffered a few minor problems during the first day at Interlagos. Tonio Liuzzi, who is driving his last race for the team this weekend, and Sebastian Vettel had some problems finding the right balance on the car due to the changing weather conditions.
Tonio Liuzzi (STR2-03)
"This is not one of my favourite circuits, but for sure it is a great one to drive with all the changes of gradient and the banked corners and a mix of high and low speed turns. Overall it is a good track with a great history which is what makes it special. As far as my day is concerned there were a few problems when it came to finding the right balance on the car, due to the changing conditions, with wet conditions at first, gradually getting dryer. Overall, we still have a bit of work to do on set-up, but we got some useful information to work with, although I think in terms of tyres it is going to be difficult as the "softer ones seem to suffer with the new tarmac surface. Hopefully the weather will decide what it wants to do: either completely dry or completely wet would be a help for everybody!"
First Practice Session
Best lap 1.22.250, pos.10th, 17 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap 1.14.152, pos. 15th, 33 laps
Sebastian Vettel (STR2-04)
"This is one of the best tracks of the year and fun to drive. The new surface seems to be quite grippy, which can also be seen comparing this year's lap times to last year. The new surface has eased the bumps a little bit, but towards the end of the session as it dried, you could see the marks where the cars are bottoming and it seems to be in the same places as last year. In terms of our performance, the wet conditions this morning made for a difficult day. But, even if we did not get enough time in the dry today, we tried to get data on both tyre specifications which seem to be rather on the soft side, so we will have to see how the situation evolves tomorrow."
First Practice Session
Best lap 1.21.598, pos.7th, 22 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap 1.14.409, pos. 17th, 37 laps