2007 USA Grand Prix Qualifying Report
Adrian Sutil (car 20, F8-VII/03):
FP3: 21st 1:14.142 (24 laps)
Q1: 21st 1:14.122 (6 laps)
Christijan Albers (car 21, F8-VII/02):
FP3: 22nd 1:14.402 (24 laps)
Q1: 22nd 1:14.597 (7 laps)
Weather: Highs of 32 C ambient, 45 C track. Very hot.
16 June 2007 - The Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team will
start tomorrow's USA Grand Prix in 21st and 22nd positions.
Adrian Sutil and Christijan Albers completed six and seven
laps respectively on the soft Bridgestone Potenzas in the
first 15-minute Qualifying segment to end the session just
0.4secs apart.
Both drivers set their fastest times on their first flying
laps in the session after small problems on the second runs
stopped any improvement. On a circuit that favours a high
top speed, a good Qualifying result was going to be challenging,
but for the third consecutive race the team was less than
two seconds from the pole position time.
Adrian and Christijan now go to tomorrow's 73 lap Grand Prix
optimistic of making up on their respective grid slots with
a strong race pace.
Adrian Sutil (car 20)
'The first run was OK. I had some traffic on my first lap,
but the second lap was better. Then the last run with the
new tyres was difficult as I had some problems with the front
tyres and had a lock-up and went wide in the first corner.
In general the session was OK, but of course could have been
better. With the long straights and the high-banked corners
here it should be a fantastic race tomorrow, as compared to
other tracks, it should be quite easy to overtake other cars.'
Christijan Albers (car 21)
'It was not really a bad Qualifying; we did our best. Everyone
is quite close together and it's not easy to do a quick lap
time. I was looking for a tow and I didn't have one, but I
had already lost some time before I arrived at the first corner,
which was quite a shame. Hopefully tomorrow we will have a
good car and be able to race the cars in front as we did in
Montreal.'
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer
'A slightly disappointing Qualifying session where both drivers
did not improve on their second runs at the end of the session.
Although I don't think this would have changed our position,
we certainly would have been closer to the cars in front.
Overall I think we will have a decent race pace though and
will be able to stay and race with the group ahead. We just
have to get the right strategy for tomorrow's race.'
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