Canadian Grand Prix Preview
In advance of this week's Canadian Grand Prix, the Etihad
Aldar Spyker Formula One Team has conducted Q&As with
drivers Christijan Albers and Adrian Sutil.
Q&A with Christijan Albers
Do you feel the team made progress in Monaco?
The gap to the others was smaller, for sure. We were not that
far away in the race, it was a shame we could not finish,
especially so close to the end. Monaco is a special track
and the differences in cars are not so obvious, but I hope
we can keep up like this for the rest of the season.
Did you find any developments in the pre-event test
in Ricard that you will be able to apply in Canada?
We did find some gains in Paul Ricard. We were able to put
in some kilometres and gather some reasonable data for the
race, which should help us. We know that we are still lacking
in top speed and Canada is a high speed track, but we tested
some issues that will help us in the braking areas and with
balance and set-up.
Do you think that the low downforce, aggressive turn-in
of the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve will suit your driving style?
The track doesn't matter actually as you always adapt your
driving style to the circuit you are racing on that weekend.
I do like the Montreal circuit though. I have had some good
results there before; in 2005 with Minardi I qualified 15th,
which was better than we ever hoped for at the time, and I
really enjoy driving there. The event is also fantastic -
you are only four or five minutes from the city so there is
a good atmosphere. It's great for the team as they can enjoy
everything the city has to offer.
What are the goals for this race?
We are always pushing for a good result. It's not always easy,
but we have to go for it and push - the guys back at the factory
really deserve it. At this point in the season we have to
wait for the B-spec car to move forward a little bit more,
but now, as a team, we have to concentrate on getting every
small detail right to be competitive. We cannot afford to
make any mistakes now, so that's got to be the goal at this
race and every race now on - to be on top of everything.
Q&A with Adrian Sutil
You have just finished your first Monaco Grand Prix
event. How would you sum up that weekend?
In general it was a great feeling. It was my first time in
Monaco as a Formula 1 driver, although of course I have done
Formula 3 it's completely different - you don't have your
own garage, you only have very limited track time in practice,
Qualifying and then a short race, but in F1 you are the show!
It was a very special weekend for me and for all the team.
More importantly though, we had a good weekend as a team.
We were ahead of some people, we raced and of course I was
fastest in the wet on Saturday, which was just amazing.
How did it feel to see your name on the top of the
time sheets on Saturday morning?
I was surprised, but it was incredible to see the reaction
of everyone in the team, the paddock and the press. I had
a lot of people come up and congratulate me afterwards. I
was happy to see my name up there on the top, it's a good
memory.
There also seemed to be a definite improvement in
performance from the team, with you actually racing for the
first time this season.
We did see an improvement in the race and put in a good performance.
The car was quick and we could race and outqualify other cars,
but it's a shame we didn't finish. I just ran a little wide
and hit the barriers. I still did over 50 laps though and
got a good feel for how things were going. We were able to
fight with the Aguri and the Toyota, which was very interesting.
I think we could be in the same position again in Canada.
Did you find any new developments in the Canada pre-event
test in Paul Ricard that will help you continue the pace in
this race?
We did make some improvements in the test and the performance
was overall quite good. We used the low downforce set-up on
the long straight, but it's not that similar to Montreal as
there are not as many chicanes. Hopefully the developments
we found will work in Montreal though and we will continue
at the same rate we did in Monaco. The goal has definitely
got to be to keep cars behind us, have a clean race and get
to the finish.
Canada is the second street circuit in a row. You
went well in Monaco, are street circuits something of a speciality
for you?
Monaco is one of my favourite tracks, it's very special. Montreal
is a bit different as the walls are not so close and it's
not quite as tight. But I think it will be a good race. I'm
looking forward to it.
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