After finishing 11th in British Grand Prix, Force India driver Vitantonio Liuzzi is desperate to get back among points and the Italian hopes to cash in on a familiar track in German GP at Hockenheim on July 25.
Liuzzi, who had qualified 15th but started 20th after copping a five-place penalty for deliberate obstruction in the qualifying session, gave it everything but finished 11th in the last race at Silverstone.
“I think, Hockenheim will be better for us, but we still have to work hard and bring some developments. It has a very flat surface, or it did when we were last there two years ago! So you can use a much stiffer set-up, a much lower car.
“I grew up in Germany in F3, so I really like it, and I drove quite a bit there. So I’m looking forward to it. I think we could be in a strong position,” Liuzzi said.
“It’s not as linked to downforce as Silverstone, so maybe we should be more competitive and with a better pace. We have to try to score points with both cars to be back in the fight.
In Silverstone I was close, but we knew it was not a track for our car’s best characteristics,” he added.
The Italian regretted the way things had turned up for him in Silverstone and feels that a through analysis should be carried out before he sits behind the wheels in Germany.
“It was pretty upsetting because we don’t know what happened with the first set of tyres. With the hard tyres at the beginning we had a huge amount of understeer, and I couldn’t drive to the apex every time, it was really washing out.
“And suddenly once we changed to the soft tyres it was another world. We were able to push, we had a really good pace, and we were able to catch our competitors. I caught the group of Adrian, Nico Hulkenberg and Michael Schumacher without any problem, and I was also keeping Fernando Alonso behind,” he said.
The 28-year-old Liuzzi said it was nothing but a “shame” that he squandered the advantageous position.
“When we went to the soft tyres I went down with the front wing and the car was balanced and was good. It was a shame because even with the soft tyre we struggled with a lack of top speed, which we’d had since the beginning of the race,” said Liuzzi.
“We lost a few km/h on the straight, and we don’t understand why, but we have to analyse it. When he (Alonso) tried to overtake me we had a little contact.
“He has already passed me once, and I passed him back. He was trying everything to overtake me, but I don’t give him space just because he’s in a Ferrari! I enjoyed it, I always enjoy a fight,” he said in an interview published on his team’s website.
Liuzzi also defended his move that had cost him five places after the qualifying round in Silverstone.
“I was pretty upset because when it happened to me in the first three or four races, I always suffered because of traffic, and they never came to any conclusion or gave any penalty. There was a misunderstanding with the pit wall, because we believed Hulkenberg was on an out lap.
“He was coming quite fast and I understand that I blocked him, but he did a much better lap afterwards, so I don’t think we actually spoiled his qualifying. I got held up on a few occasions by a Williams, but nothing happened, but that’s racing,” said Liuzzi.
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