FIF1 Q&A - Tonio Liuzzi

Force India have put a Q&A session with there three drivers on there website.

Q: Why did you decide to sign for Force India this winter?
"Like I've said from the beginning, I saw a really serious team and a really professional team, and I wanted to link myself with them for the long term, because I'm pretty sure that sooner or later I will be back in a race seat. I didn't want to take the risk of going with a bigger team and becoming like a professional test driver or someone who is a test driver forever!"

Q: What impressed you most about the team?
"They impressed me a lot, the professionalism they have and the approach they have at the circuit. They work in a really good way, something I didn't always find in other teams. For sure we have a lot of work to do with the car, we are still quite a long way from the leaders, but we've already made a big step forward in the past few months. I think the structure is good; we just need a few more people to build a winning team. You need more people to create a stronger group. But at the end of the day I think we will get to this point in the future. It will take a bit of time, but I'm sure that with the way Vijay Mallya is pushing now, we can reach the target."

Q: Is it important to have people like Mike Gascoyne and Mark Smith, who have come from bigger teams?
"We've got Mike on top, and he provides a good base to start with. I work really well with him, and he has a got a lot of knowledge. We've also got Mark Smith, and he's a really big support. He worked with Renault and Red Bull, and he knows what the car needs. I'm pretty sure that we will make big steps forward soon. At the beginning of the season it won't be easy, but that's normal. But I'm really positive, because the technical side is quite strong."

Q: Do you think people have forgotten that when those guys were together at Jordan the team challenged for the World Championship?
"Maybe when people saw Midland or Spyker in the last few years they thought the team wouldn't grow back again, but you shouldn't forget it was a winning team, and they nearly won a World Championship. It's important that you build a strong group. In the past this team showed potential, and now if we build a strong group again, even if F1 is different and you need more money now, I think we can do really well."

Q: There has been a lot of talk about the loss of engine braking. Will the drivers get used to that easily?
"I think you will get used to it, but in race conditions it will be much tougher. When you have to overtake or make a sharp movement at the first corner, you can lose the rear of the car much more easily. It will be more challenging for everybody, but it will make everything more spectacular."

Sources: ForceIndiaF1.com

Posted on 02 Mar 2008 by Sarah

Barcelona Testing Day 2

Tonio's second day of testing saw him complete 89 laps and a time of 1:22.942

Afterwards he said the following: "Today was a much better test and we achieved a lot of kilometres and had no issues with the car. It seems to be getting better and better as we felt yesterday. We seem to have made a step forward from last year’s car and now we are tuning the little details. We did some long runs and short runs for both qualifying and race simulations and were pretty happy. We still have some work to do, but we are for sure going in a good direction. The engineers did a great job - it was a tough programme between myself and Giancarlo but we both had no issues reliability wise and were very competitive over the day."

Sources: Motorsport.com

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Posted on 02 Mar 2008 by Sarah

Barcelona Testing Day 1

In the final test before the season starts Tonio was on hand to help with the testing of the new VJM01 Force India Formula One car! He completed 41 laps and made a time of 1:23.239

Afterwards he said the following: "It was a pretty difficult day as we did not run that much as we had quite a few problems in the afternoon. It was also a shame that the weather was not better and we could not do too many laps. The balance, considering the conditions seemed OK, and the few laps we did in the dry seemed a step forward from last year’s car. It felt a bit more balanced and we still have to understand more on the settings, but from the few laps we did in the dry it was quite a good feeling."

Sources: Motorsport.com

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Posted on 02 Mar 2008 by Sarah

Q&A with Tonio Liuzzi

Q: There have been some stories this week about things you are meant to have said about Gerhard Berger. Can you just clarify what the actual situation is? How were things with him, and at Toro Rosso?

Vitantonio Liuzzi: The relationship was actually good at the end of the year. For sure the beginning of the season was difficult and there was a little bit of tension, but after that we built up a really good relationship until the end of the season. The results showed everything was going in the right direction.

Gerhard always had on his mind that he wanted Sebastien Bourdais for 2008. So I think maybe the fact that Sebastian Vettel came after half a year didn't help me much. But Berger felt he had made a better decision and it was just a shame that I left Red Bull. I've no bad feelings about it though.

For sure Gerhard and Franz have never been big fans of mine, and they wanted other opportunities for the future. But I don't regret any moment of my two years with Toro Rosso.

Q: How are things with Berger now?

VL: There is no conflict at all. Part of the business of F1 is that you come through one door and you go out another. It is always the same in the paddock. We had no fight at all. He will always be a friend and that is part of the business. He thought he had a better solution for 2008, and I fully understand that. I have also found myself a good opportunity.

Q: You've also been quoted as saying that Adrian Newey blocked any move to Red Bull Racing. Is that what you meant?

VL: There was a plan many times for me to go to Red Bull Racing, but I just think I didn't convince some people in the team. I think Adrian was one of those. It's not that he blocked me. He just wasn't convinced, and that is all it was. I'm not angry about it. It is part of the game. And again, there are no bad feelings.

Q: You talked about the arrival of Vettel not helping you in terms of staying on board for 2008. But is it fair to say that he helped enhance your reputation because people could better appreciate the job you were doing against him than they could against Scott Speed?

VL: Of course Scott and I started together as rookies. It was difficult to judge the actual speed between us though, so when Sebastian came along he was highly rated and people could work it out better. I didn't suffer from him coming into the team. People realised that I too had big potential and I think I got more publicity from it.

Q: You must be excited about the new chapter in your career with Force India though?

VL: I am really, really excited about this. Since the very first test with Force India, even when I had not signed with them, I saw they had a good structure, a positive structure, with professional people. VJ (Mallya) has put a lot of effort in the team and I am looking forward to working with them. My project here is for the long term, and soon we will be able to make a big step forward.

Q: Do you feel you will be able to contribute more as a test driver now than before you raced in F1?

VL: For sure. Now after two years of racing in F1, you realise more what an F1 car needs to be fast. Now I feel mature enough to lead the team into making the car a good one.

Q: But you will have one eye on proving that you deserve a race seat with them in the future?

VL: Definitely my big objective is to be back racing in F1 in 2009. I am putting a lot of effort into that and I feel positive with Force India. They are giving me a lot of chances and a lot of mileage, and we are doing big steps forward together. So that makes me feel positive.

I have a lot of positive feelings for the future and I want to give the maximum this year to try and improve the car, because I think 2009 is a time when the team will be able to make a big step forward.

Q: You seem to have the spring back in your step now...

VL: Yeah, I feel really good and really motivated. I think at the beginning it felt weird when I had to leave the Red Bull world, but the Kingfisher world is really similar. I feel like I changed my family, but it still has the same good environment and everyone works for a single objective now.

I think VJ showed very strongly that he wants to perform and bring the team to a podium finish in a few years. And he will put a lot of effort to make it happen.

Q: Do you have any plans to race this year? There has been talk about you discussing with Peugeot for their Le Mans project?

VL: We have had a few talks with strong teams, but we want to be sure that everything can fit together and it is the right thing to do. It is a completely different world from F1, so we want to be sure that if we do it we can do it properly. We are still thinking about this, and it will become clearer soon.

I am thinking about a few other opportunities outside of F1 as well. Being a third driver all year is good for kilometres, but the racing hunger is always inside us. So if we can sort something out, to make some races, then I will find a way to do it. It is good to keep myself sharp for racing.

Q: And what are you expecting Force India to be able to do this year?

VL: I have to say that now we have got a big step forward coming in two weeks in Barcelona with the new package. From the numbers I have seen in the wind tunnel, the progress is coming quickly over the next two or three months.

So I think our target for this year is to close as much as possible the gap to our competitors. Then we want to try and get into Q2 by the end of the season. It is not going to be easy, but I think we have got a lot of updates coming and we can get the maximum out of the new car.

Sources: Autosport.com

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Posted on 16 Feb 2008 by Sarah

Liuzzi Still unhappy with Berger

Vitantonio Liuzzi has hit out at Toro Rosso co-owner Gerhard Berger, saying the Austrian was mostly to blame for him being without a drive at the end of last year.

Liuzzi drove for Toro Rosso last year, but fell out with the management and was left without a racing seat after the team signed Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais for the 2008 season.

The Italian finally secured a test driver role with the Force India team, although he claims he had offers to race in other series.

"I had alternatives: a new NASCAR team offered me to race in the Busch series, I could have had a couple of Champ Car tests, but I preferred to concentrate on the Force India programme, even if only as a test driver," Liuzzi told Autosprint magazine.

"That's because the potential of this team is big, and I count on being back in a racing role in the medium term.

"After all, if I found myself without a drive at the end of 2007, it was most of all the fault of Gerhard Berger, who has never been a fan of mine, just like Adrian Newey, who in the past blocked my arrival as a regular Red Bull driver.

"F1 is a strange world, where the way you're perceived can change very quickly. When I won the F3000 title everyone was looking for me, they'd say I was the driver of the future, but things later turned for the worse.

"Let's not forget that Toro Rosso is not Red Bull, but it's rather Minardi with a new ownership. I'm sorry to have left the Red Bull orbit most of all for Dietrich Mateschitz, who has always believed in me. I can't say the same about others."

Despite being happy with his current role, Liuzzi admits he is eager to get back to racing, and says he has an offer from Peugeot to race in Le Mans.

"Now it's important for me to give my technical help to Force India," he said. "Now they work in three wind tunnels, while there wasn't the money to even work in one beforehand. My role is a proper test driver one, as is de la Rosa's at McLaren and Badoer's at Ferrari.

"But I can't hide from the fact that I want to get back to racing. I've received a proposal from Peugeot to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It interests me because in 2008 I nevertheless want to keep myself in the racing spirit, I don't want to just test.

"But for 2009 I accepted this role most of all because there are concrete possibilities to get back to be a proper race driver."

Sources: Autosport.com

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Posted on 16 Feb 2008 by Sarah

Jerez Testing Day 1

Tonio was once again testing for Force India today, he worked on new gearbox items and the 2008 electronics package and brakes. He made a time of 1:21.553 completing 103 laps.

Afterwards he said the following: "Today was a good day. We managed to do a lot of mileage, which was the target today following the shortened days we have had at the previous tests. We had a few items to test for the new car and managed to complete the programme with some promising progress. As I had a full day I was able to get more comfortable in the car and feel very positive about it. We now need to put all the information together, look through the data and keep everything going forward."

Dominic Harlow: "A day of very different conditions morning and afternoon here. The circuit was near perfect at the start of the morning session with the usual quick laptimes for some teams. We concentrated instead on race fuel levels and building gearbox development mileage. Tonio also completed a number of tests on the some new braking system components and revised electrical hardware."

Sources: Motorsport.com

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Posted on 16 Feb 2008 by Sarah

FIF1 Launch Video

This is the launch video for the new Force India Formula One challenger!

Force India Car Launch Video

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Posted on 16 Feb 2008 by Sarah

Force India Launch

Force India Formula One made their official launch of their car on the 7th of February. The launch took place in Mumbai, India. All the drivers were present and experienced some of the local culture during their time in Mumbai. The Team will be back testing at Jerez in a weeks time.

Sources: Motorsport.com

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Posted on 16 Feb 2008 by Sarah

Barcelona Testing Day 2

Tonio took over from Fisichella's opening day and completed 61 laps on the Barcelona circuit. He made the best time of a 1:24.263. Tonio ran through set-up and work on engine installation and cooling. However he suffered with a clutch and driveline problem.

Afterwards he said the following: "Overall another long day with a few issues, but that is normal as we are testing some new parts and it is part of the course. Unfortunately we couldn't complete a lot of kilometres, which makes it difficult to get into the rhythm and get used to the car, but although it was a difficult day we did get some good information that we can carry forward for the next test."

Mike Gascoyne: "Today was a much more difficult day as we had a couple of mechanical issues, first with a clutch problem and then a driveshaft failure, and we couldn't quite get temperatures in the rear tyres so our apologies to Tonio for the disrupted running. Tonio also struggled with the balance, so we need to do more work with him to get more out of the car."

Sources: Motorsport.com

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Posted on 16 Feb 2008 by Sarah

TLO: Site News

Hello everybody!

I know plenty of you still come and visit this website and I thank each and every one of you. I'm sure you've noticed there's a lack of updates the past few weeks and this has been for a number of reasons. The past week I've been sick with an annual cold! also the combination of my job along with the unfortunate death of the actor Heath Ledger - an actor who's works I admired very much all contributed to the unannounced hiatus of the site. However I plan to update all the news stories within the next couple of days and bring you back up to date with news on Tonio Liuzzi.

Keep visiting! grin

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Posted on 16 Feb 2008 by Sarah