09/09/2008
NEWS STORY
First of all, what is your reaction to the 25s penalty which dropped you from eighth to ninth?
Timo Glock: It was really disappointing to be told that I had lost the place because I fought so hard on the last couple of laps to make up ground. Considering the circumstances over the weekend and earlier in the race, a point would have been a good result, so I wasn't happy to be told I had been penalised.
Was it fair to penalise you for overtaking under a yellow flag?
TG: I am absolutely convinced I didn't do anything wrong because it was quite obvious that Mark Webber was running at a different pace due to the grooved tyres. I was a lot quicker on the standard wets and he had to brake much earlier than me for the Bus Stop. I believe I only passed him after the green flag. But the stewards have made their decision so we just have to accept that.
Prior to that, how was the weekend for you?
TG: We struggled with set-up all weekend and we had a few problems warming up the tyres. We had the hardest compound Bridgestone tyres so the low track temperatures were a bit of a problem for us. We didn't have the pace we wanted, that is pretty clear. We knew before the weekend that it would be a tricky race for us.
Talk us through the final laps, when the rain came.
TG: We had struggled a bit for pace in the race so I was out of the points but I saw the cloud coming in and I asked the team if it would rain. They said rain was expected for the last two or three laps and I knew at Spa it would be really hard to stay on the track with dry tyres if it was wet. That was definitely the case when the rain started and I actually made a mistake when I slid off the track and Webber got past me. We had nothing to lose so I decided to change to standard wets. It was the right thing to do because the speed difference on the standard wets compared to the grooved tyres was massive. I was 13 seconds behind Webber starting the last lap and I easily passed him at the Bus Stop.
Do you enjoy wet-weather driving?
TG: I like wet conditions quite a lot and it would have been good for me if the race had been completely wet. On Saturday morning, in final practice, we went pretty well in the wet conditions and looked strong.
Are you happy with your performances recently?
TG: I said before the season started that I wanted to be on a similar level to Jarno in the second part of the year and I think I have achieved that. You saw in qualifying when I was struggling a bit with the car that he was in front in the last run, but only by 0.046s. Overall in qualifying sometimes I was quicker, sometimes he was quicker so I think we were on the same level. If you look back over the course of the year you will see I have made steady progress and I have to say I am pretty pleased with how things are going. I have finished in the points for the last three races, if you forget about the penalty at Spa, so it is quite positive. Everything is going in the right direction in terms of development and I have a good feeling with the car generally speaking. It was clear to me I wasn't going to come in and win races straight away but I have scored a podium in my first full season in Formula 1 so it's a great start.
What are your expectations for the Italian Grand Prix?
TG: We have to push hard to score points because every point is important to us in the fight for fourth in the Constructors' Championship. We have the hard compound Bridgestone tyres again so warm-up might be a bit tricky, although I expect the weather will be much better than in Belgium so that should help. The test went pretty well for us and we did some good work on the Monza aero package but you never really know what the situation is in testing. We'll have to wait and see on but we definitely have the potential to score more points.