09/06/2007
NEWS STORY
The Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team will start tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix with Adrian Sutil and Christijan Albers in 21st and 22nd places respectively.
In a mark of the high standard of competition this year, the duo were just over two seconds from pole position and under a second from entering Q2. This encouraging performance followed from the morning's free practice session, with both just over one second from the top 10.
Both drivers completed two runs on the supersoft Bridgestone Potenza tyres in the disrupted first Qualifying segment, with Adrian recording a best time of 1:18.536 and Christijan a 1:19.196 lap.
Adrian Sutil: 'Yesterday we went a little bit in the wrong direction on set-up but today is so much better. I do feel a bit disappointed though as it's never nice to be second last. We did know that this would be a difficult race though with the long straights and the kerbs, but all the field is so close together and there are only two seconds to pole. We are normally better over the longer distances and 70 laps is a long race and as one of my strengths is to do consistent lap times, I hope we will be good tomorrow.'
Christijan Albers: 'Yesterday was a really good day, but today we were struggling quite a lot with the balance and we just had some brake problems in Qualifying. I found I was locking quite a lot, which meant I could not put in a good lap time. I hope for more tomorrow.'
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer: 'Although we qualified with both cars on the back row, it's probably true to say that today has been our most competitive of the season. In both free practice and Qualifying we were just two seconds off the pace, which shows just how competitive Formula 1 is at the moment. But both drivers were quite happy with the car, although did find less grip in Qualifying this afternoon. We are quite close to a big group in front and, as it's usually an incident-packed race, we have to see if through a decent strategy we can pick up a good result.'
To check out our Canada qualifying gallery, click here