Formula One - Tonio Liuzzi considers Belgian Grand Prix point to be his hardest achievement
The Italian stated that he had to work harder than any race in his F1 career to secure the point at the Belgian Grand Prix. Tonio Liuzzi was satisfied after a tough weekend, as it was a very entertaining race and he enjoyed fighting his way from the back of the grid.
Spa Francorchamps is a unique circuit that often has a challenging race entertaining the spectators in every year. The weather made it more interesting, as it started slowly and then started to get quite intense later on. This caused the safety car to come on the track and the teams had to face full wet conditions near the end of the race. Liuzzi said that at a point, he saw big black clouds and asked his team to get ready for the rain but as he went to the other side of the track, it was like a bright summer’s day.
The conditions were quite tricky but the team made the right decisions at the right time making it very enjoyable for the Italian, despite the fact he was facing some problems that dropped them down the order.
Tonio had a contact with one of the cars in the first lap that damaged the nose of the car. The team fixed the problem after the first pit, as the car was suffering a lot of rear graining and instability. The 30-year-old enjoyed his fight with Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, and said that this shows the team never gives up.
The Italian was hoping for a good result until his accident with Vettel causing him to lose some places. “When he first came up behind me - before he had the drive-through penalty - he was driving really aggressively and I think he was pushing a bit too hard. He was trying everything to find a way past and I think he was a bit over the limit,” said Liuzzi.
According to Liuzzi, Vettel’s car was much faster than anyone else in the midfield was and he should have relaxed a bit. The pressure of the championship may have played a huge role in his behaviour, as he was not in a good position after his collision with Jenson. Tonio was told by his team that Sebastian was out of control and was being very aggressive. Keeping that in mind, the Italian did not challenge him much and gave up the position to avoid any accident.
The 30-year-old came out in 13th place after he pitted for a nose change and decided to gamble on extreme wet tyres. The track was suited to intermediates and made it very difficult for Liuzzi but still he was able to gain three positions. The car struggled for pace until the end of the race for the point after Jaime Alguersuari’s penalty in the final lap.
The team was ultimately happy, as they had a huge problem regarding the top-speed in the practice sessions and qualifying, and were losing more than a second due to a problem with their F-duct. However, the team was able to get rid of the problem right before the qualifying and had to change a lot of parts to get good results. Tonio praised the teams work on the car in just a day.
“But ultimately I think we got a bit lost in the problem. The F-duct is such a complex item and even after qualifying, it was not working 100%. It was still creating problems during the race and we were conscious right from the start that we would not be getting the very best from the car,” said Liuzzi.
It is going to be Tonio Liuzzi’s home race at Monza after 2 weeks, and he believes he will be able to score some good points there and perform at his best in front of his home crowd.
“But it's not just because it's my home crowd that I want to do well, I also want to get the result we deserve this season. We have narrowly missed good results for a number of reasons this year, so I want to pull it all together. And if it's at Monza, it's true that it will be even more satisfying.”
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