2007 Italian Grand Prix Qualifying Report
Adrian Sutil (car 20, F8-VII/03):
FP3: 22nd 1:24.943 (18 laps)
Q1: 21st 1:24.699 (10 laps)
Sakon Yamamoto (car 21, F8-VII/04):
FP3: 21st 1:24.736 (17 laps)
Q1: 22nd 1:25.084 (8 laps)
8 September 2007 - After a promising start to its Italian
Grand Prix weekend, the Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team
experienced a disappointing free practice and Qualifying session
today, with Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto lining up for
tomorrow's race in 21st and 22nd positions respectively.
The team lost valuable track time in the morning session
after the practice was interrupted to allow marshalls to repair
a tyre barrier damaged by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. Then on
his first run in the afternoon's Qualifying session Sakon
Yamamoto spun under braking and ran into the barriers. As
just the nosebox was damaged, Sakon was able to complete one
further run but unfortunately was blocked by a Super Aguri
on his flying lap.
Adrian was similarly disappointed with his day. Completing
only 18 laps in the morning, he could not put together an
ideal lap in Qualifying and will start his first Italian Grand
Prix in 21st position.
Adrian Sutil (car 20)
'Everybody thought this session would be better but in the
end the gap to the group in front was quite big. I had a good
second run that was about two tenths quicker but unfortunately
my fastest sector times were on my in lap to the pits. In
general the second lap on the new tyres always seems to be
better than the first and perhaps I could have been two tenths
quicker, but for sure this would not have been enough to take
another place. So we are still 21st and 22nd and are a little
disappointed, but I think we can come back stronger tomorrow.'
Sakon Yamamoto (car 21)
'We tried to do two timed laps in the first run, but then
towards the end of the first outing I broke the front wing
when the rear brakes locked and I couldn't control the car
and went into the barriers. Fortunately though we could repair
the car and do another run. I did a good lap time until the
Parabolica but just before the corner I caught another car
so I lost a lot of time in there. I can say that I am really
unhappy for both myself and the team as we were OK in the
morning and looking forward to Qualifying. I really expected
more and a better result, but now it's happened and we have
to keep concentrating on tomorrow now.'
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer
'A disappointing Qualifying session where we still seem to
be struggling to get one lap performance. When you look at
our long run pace we seem very competitive, but when you take
the fuel out we struggle to improve our lap times and once
again went slower than we did this morning. We know we have
to improve our Qualifying pace but I am sure the race pace
will be much more competitive and we'll be able to race with
the group in front.'
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