Planet-F1

Fri: Force India, Toro Rosso

Friday 9th May 2008

With the loss of Super Aguri, Force India and Toro Rosso were left to battle it out in an attempt not to finish last.

Force India:
Giancarlo Fisichella: This morning I was really struggling with the balance and with the grip on the circuit, but then we made a few changes on the car and it felt much better, much more consistent so I think it was a good afternoon, it was definitely a step forward in the second session."

Adrian Sutil: This morning was OK. It was difficult for everyone as there was very little grip with not much rubber laid down. I think most people struggled to find a balance, including us. We took the hard tyre for the first session and recorded a standard lap time, but at least we could see where we were. It was OK with the balance and some corners were quite good. We used the harder tyre again in the second session with the longer runs, but it did not work as well at the beginning as I lost all the temperatures in the tyres. After the red flag we realised that there was a clutch issue and we couldn't do any more running so it was a bit disappointing, but hopefully tomorrow will be better."

Toro Rosso:
Sebastian Vettel: I am quite happy with the way practice went today. Obviously, it was difficult because of the changing conditions, which limited our track time. But I think we completed a good and consistent programme, which produced a lot of useful information, especially for Sunday. I feel happy with the car again, which is the most important thing, so I am looking forward to tomorrow afternoon."

Sebastien Bourdais: It's my first time at this track and I have to say it is very interesting. Turn 8 is particularly tricky as it is both quick and bumpy and these cars don't like bumps very much! The car can step out on you quite quickly. Today, sometimes the car felt good and at other times, it seemed to get away from me. The conditions were really difficult. I wouldn't say it was a case of low grip, but rather that we struggled to take care of the tyres and this made the car difficult to drive. But we got plenty of data, so we have something to work on for tomorrow."