Brazilian Grand Prix Preview
The Brazilian Grand Prix will mark the end of the Etihad
Aldar Spyker Formula One Team's debut season in the FIA Formula
One World Championship. After a stable, if unspectacular,
start to the year, the team has moved onwards and upwards
throughout the season; it has led one race, introduced a new
B-spec car and scored its first point at last month's Japanese
Grand Prix. Additionally, and somewhat surprisingly, only
reigning World Champions Renault and former champions McLaren
and Ferrari have led more laps than Spyker, thanks to Markus
Winkelhock's sterling performance at the European Grand Prix!
The team will be hoping to continue its progress and secure
a strong finish at this final event of the year. Following
on from his solid race in China just over a week ago, Sakon
Yamamoto is hopeful of a good result at one of his favourite
tracks. Last year, the Japanese driver put in a good race
to finish 16th however set the seventh fastest lap of the
race en route. Team-mate Adrian Sutil meanwhile has no previous
experience of the bumpy 4.309km Autodromo Carlos Pace in Interlagos,
Sao Paulo, however he will be sure to have a small, dedicated
pocket of support on account of South American heritage -
the German-born driver is half-Uruguayan from his father's
side.
Team Q&A
Colin Kolles, team principal and managing director
Colin, we are now at the end of the Spyker's first season
in Formula 1. How would you review the year?
If you look at the year as a whole, it has not been easy.
We have had many challenges and tests, but I think we can
be proud of how far we have come and what we have achieved.
We said this would be a year to stabilise the team, set new
standards and procedures and really put down the foundations
to let the team move forward over the coming seasons. I think
we have achieved all of these aims. The technical team is
now working very well together and we are seeing the rewards
of the investments in the B-spec. I hope next year with increased
resources we will be able to really challenge.
The team's first point is now confirmed too. Does
this exceed your expectations for the year?
We set out to get a point this year and we did, but now we
need to do this on track so we can celebrate properly! I was
delighted to hear the point was confirmed, Adrian did a brilliant
job to get from the back of the field and although we did
not know about the point until well after the race, he thoroughly
deserved a good result after such a tough race.
The ownership of the team has also changed hands
again, this is a positive move for the team?
We still have one owner who is the same! Michiel Mol remains
with the team as he and Vijay Mallya have 50% each. It's very
encouraging to see Michiel and his family stay for further
seasons as he has been a big figure in the team and we're
very appreciative of his continued support. Together with
Vijay I think we can look forward to a new stability that
will help the team find its former glory again.
In the final race of the year what would you like
to see from the team?
Well I know what would be a dream result, but we have to be
realistic. We need to have a strong finish with both cars
to get as much data as possible for next year. If we finish
in the points it would be a good result for the winter, but
let's see what the conditions are like, where we qualify and
what is possible on Sunday.
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer
We are now nearing the end of your first season as chief technical
officer. Has this season met your expectations?
It has obviously been a very difficult season. We've been
compromised on development of new parts by financial circumstances,
some of the development such as the wind tunnel has taken
much longer than we expected to get up and running, but we
have ended the season a high, with the B-spec car scoring
its first point and new owners who are very committed to moving
the team forward. It's a big well done to the team for all
their hard work after a difficult year. I hope we can now
look forward to an improved season next year.
As you have said before, the B-spec F8-VII is the
starting point for next season's car. Is this a solid basis
to build on?
I think we have made a good step forward with the B-spec.
We knew it was never going to be enough to take us to the
top, but we now have a lot more resources to put into development,
particularly into aerodynamics. We have shown very clearly
that we know what we are doing and when we put parts on the
car, they improve performance as expected. Over the winter
we can now get our heads down and get on with this development
and by the middle of next year, I think we can expect to be
truly competitive.
Is the new wind tunnel part of this programme of
development?
The wind tunnel programme started last week in Brackley. It's
several months later than we would have hoped for, however
with Aerolab working alongside our own tunnel, we will have
significantly more resources than we have had in the past.
With the introduction of the B-spec, we have shown we know
how to move the car forward and with these new increased resources
I think we can be very confident about the future.
What do you expect in the final race in Brazil?
I think we will run lower levels of downforce in Interlagos
due to the series of main straights and in general every time
we have run the car in lower downforce trim we seem to be
more competitive. Sakon was very good in Brazil last year,
it's a track he knows and likes, and although it's a new track
for Adrian, we should look to finish the season with a good,
competitive race.
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