Fisico upbeat after excellent Hockenheim
The first half of 2005 has not been very well for Fisichella, teammate of Fernando Alonso at Renault. But on the circuit of Hockenheim he even amazed Flavio Briatore, who was rather sceptical about the Roman's driving this season. Even with a damaged car he managed to get past Schumacher 2 laps from the end of the race.
In the opening corners, contact with Takuma Sato’s BAR handicapped Giancarlo. “The endplate of my rear wing was damaged, which slowed me down and put me in a bad position on the circuit. With quite cold tyres, and the wrong line, I lost some more positions,” he explains. After that, an unexpected phenomenon would complicate his race, as Pat Symonds elaborates: “On the pit-wall, we were worried from the middle of Giancarlo’s first stint onwards because the rear brake wear was much too high. We asked Fisi to change how he was driving in the second stint, and inspected the discs at his final stop. He adapted brilliantly.” However, the team was still unsure the car would be able to finish in the points. “We told Giancarlo to hold station behind Michael Schumacher, to try and force him into a mistake. He did that in a very disciplined way for a number of laps, until we released him when we knew the brakes would hold up. He attacked immediately, and passed Michael a few corners later. It was really a great drive from Fisico.”
At Hockenheim, the Renault F1 Team profited from Kimi Raikkonen’s retirement to take the win. But as Pat Symonds explains, that doesn’t mean it was a lucky win – far from it. “Racing is not just about having the quickest car,” he explains. “F1 is a team effort – and victory is the result of lots of different factors, be it good drivers, a quick car, a powerful engine or perfect pit-stops… Reliability is just one part of that equation and we have worked hard in this area since last season. It was a priority over the winter, and at the moment, we have a better balance between performance and reliability than McLaren.”
The team is now focusing intently on Hungary, in order to reinforce the championship position. “Our drivers both like the circuit,” continues Pat. “Fernando took his first win there in 2003, and Giancarlo has had some good drives at this circuit. The circuit’s characteristics should suit our car, but as we have said before, the gap between ourselves and McLaren is only small: we have to make sure the weekend runs smoothly, and that we find the right set-up, to achieve our potential.”
Giancarlo himself is well aware that the Hungaroring is one of Renault’s favourite hunting grounds. “I really like the circuit,” he said. “It is tricky, and the slow corners are a challenge for everybody. You need good traction, a stable balance in the slow corners and good grip – which isn’t easy on such a dirty circuit. Physically, it is also quite a demanding race because the straight is too short for the drivers to be able to recover. But the R25 is easy to drive, which could be an advantage.”
So what will be the key to success? “Tyres,” answers Fisico. “Lots of traction and high temperatures don’t go well together! We need to look after the rear tyres in particular, and find the balance between qualifying performance and race consistency. I am sure the car will be very quick there, and we have good qualifying positions. I am feeling optimistic…”
