02/09/2005
NEWS STORY
As many teams had tested on the high-speed Monza circuit last week, most of the F1 drivers opted to stay in the garage and conserve their car's engines during today's first practice, meaning there wasn't much action on the track. But, the fans didn't miss out too much. In the afternoon, World Champion Michael Schumacher suffered a 180° spin in his Ferrari at Turn 11, went backwards through a gravel trap and came to rest when the rear of his car slammed into a tyre wall. The incident bought his second practice session to a premature end.
David Coulthard: There was some oversteer with the car during the second practice session, so we made some balance changes, which improved things a little. The car's not still quite where I want it though and we've got some work to do tomorrow before qualifying.
Christian Klien: We were testing here last week and so there wasn't much work to do with the car set-up, balance and in getting to know the track. We just did an installation lap during the first session to check that the car was running okay. In the second practice, I did two sessions of four laps to compare the different tyres. The car had good balance during both runs, I felt pretty confident and got up to speed quickly.
Tonio Liuzzi: We struggled in the first session as it seemed like we had some sort of problem with the engine. We were 10kph slower than David on the straight, so we didn't have the same top-speed, which is crucial in Monza as it's such a high-speed track. We're still looking at what the problem is but, as we had two short sessions and not much time in between, we were pushed for time.
Despite that, Parabolica was still amazing to drive, it's one of the best corners of the track. It's low downforce here, so you're on the edge all the time, it's like driving a boat on the waves, which is a pretty cool feeling. It's a special circuit for me. It's Italy and my home grand prix, so it's great to be able to drive here.
Günther Steiner: Tonio's engine seemed to lose a bit of power during both practice sessions, we tried to rectify the problem, but didn't want to change the engine. We'll have to look into it and analyse the data before we can make a definite conclusion so we'll be checking things, including a few mechanical parts.