Formula 1 News

2008 Italian Grand Prix, practice: Team quotes 

Denis Chevrier: “Even though we tested here three weeks ago, we had a lot to get through today and we wanted to build on the interesting things that we had learnt during the test. Considering the conditions, we have not been able to do everything we needed to, but the practice in the wet this morning could prove to be valuable if the rain returns for the race.”

Mike Gascoyne: “A useful first day that I think it continues our stronger form from the past two races. With the difficult conditions in the first session we managed to run both types of wet weather tyres and also completed some running in the dry. Obviously in the second session we had some useful dry running and overall the cars look competitive here again, as we were in the test. We have to see what the weather conditions will give us for tomorrow, but we are well prepared for all eventualities.”

Ross Brawn: “We were not entirely happy with our car performance during the recent test in Monza. As a result there were some things that we wanted to evaluate here today, so the rainy weather this morning was not the ideal start. Having said that, the car appears to be performing better than it did at the test, as was confirmed by this afternoon’s running. Both drivers are happier with the performance and I feel we have a much better basis on which to build for tomorrow. I think this will be a challenging weekend for us but if the weather is inconsistent then we will look at this as an opportunity and one that we will grasp with both hands. I’m pleased with the drivers’ comments about the car because at the test we really hadn’t found a good solution. However the team have worked well since then to improve the performance and it is good to see this reflected in the timesheets today.”

Willy Rampf: “As we were testing here in Monza last week, most of the set-up work and the tyre evaluation has been done before the weekend. Today, our main concentration was on some fine-tuning for the car’s set-up. I’m confident we should be quite competitive for the rest of the weekend.”

Ron Dennis: “The heavy rains effectively reduced us to effectively zero running in the opening practice session. This afternoon, we concentrated on running on heavy fuel-loads in order to refine our race set-up and tyre choice for Sunday’s Grand Prix. We’ve made good progress in both areas and are looking competitive for the rest of the weekend.”

Sam Michael: “It was a rain interrupted programme, but we managed to get through all of the work as most of it was covered at the test two weeks ago. This morning allowed us to generate some good wet running data and this afternoon we completed a compressed dry tyre programme. It’s too early to tell where anyone is because of the changeable weather conditions over the day, but from here we will now concentrate on generating some more performance for tomorrow’s qualifying.”

Dieter Gass: “Today was an unfortunate day for us. After the problems we encountered in last week’s race in Spa we came here with an interesting programme. But because of the weather we weren’t really able to do any significant work on that. The circuit took a long time to dry and we only really had three runs in stable conditions late on. So it will be very hard to draw any conclusions. Both drivers were struggling for grip, which is normal on a completely green track here. Having to use the harder tyre compounds doesn’t help the situation, especially for us, but we’ve got to get on with it. The forecast is for rain for the rest of the weekend and we were performing better here in the wet conditions this morning so we will do our best to bring a competitive package together.”

Norbert Haug: “After the flooding here this morning and a water attack to the pits, our afternoon was so much better. We chose a conservative approach and focused on our preparations for the race. If you looked at the long runs, I could see nobody being more consistent than Lewis. Heikki improved throughout the session and we look to be in good shape.”

Luca Baldisserri: “Clearly, today’s work was limited by the weather, which was particularly bad this morning. Only when there was less than an hour to go to the chequered flag were we able to run in the dry and then the track conditions were very different to those at the test. We are reasonably satisfied with what we have seen, because the F2008 has confirmed it is competitive, even on an unusual circuit like Monza. The forecast for the rest of the weekend is not good and so it was useful to be able to get some reference points as to how the car works also on a wet track.”

Pat Symonds: “Time loss today due to the extreme weather was not really too much of a problem as we had three days of testing here recently. As always, we had a few things to finish from the test and so we consequently ran with a really high fuel load during P2. Taking this into account, we feel we are in a pretty normal position for a Friday.”