Friday: Difficult Start for HRT in Suzuka
The three drivers of the HRT team were able to take the wheel of a single-seater of the Spanish team this morning during the free practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix. But there was no miracle for them, they are not up to speed. Vitantonio Liuzzi even encountered a problem with his car, allowing him to cover only two laps, so it's not an ideal start to the weekend for him.
Narain Karthikeyan – 24th (Free Practice 1)
Being back in the car is always a good thing, even if it’s just for one session. This morning, I did my part for the team at Suzuka and I was able to log some additional kilometers and prepare myself for the Indian Grand Prix as well. Suzuka has a lot of fast corners and it’s enjoyable to drive on such a circuit. I really enjoyed it immensely and I hope that the work I did this morning will provide enough data for the team to work with.
Vitantonio Liuzzi – 24th (Free Practice 2)
Unfortunately today it was too short to get much information about the car. After three laps, we had a problem with the water pressure and we had to stop at the side of the track. Two laps is not enough to judge the car but what is good is that we had a good pace during those two laps. It’s a shame because it’s a circuit where you need to accumulate kilometers to find a rhythm, so it shouldn’t be an easy weekend after this short practice session, but we’ll see where we are tomorrow morning.
Daniel Ricciardo – 23rd and 22nd
My day went well; it went better than Tonio’s who had to stop prematurely. So I’m happy to have been able to do these two sessions. The car doesn’t seem too bad but we are still quite far from the pace of our rivals so we need to take a step forward to get closer. I’m not sure where we can find this time; maybe part of it could come from my driving style. But we all need to work together to close this gap and hopefully then we’ll succeed in being competitive for the race.
