11/10/2011
Hotfoot from the Japanese GP, Bruno looks to make amends for his sobering outing at Suzuka…
What can you conclude from the race in Japan?
Bruno Senna: It was a bit of a tough race in Suzuka; I had a difficult start where I was squeezed out at turn two and that lost me a few positions. Ultimately I didn’t feel I had the right car to perform at the level Vitaly was performing. Each time I tried to push a bit harder the car felt very edgy, and I ended up going off the track on several occasions. This put me behind other cars which were running at the same pace or a bit slower which meant I was then stuck behind them and I couldn’t pass. Looking at the data we found that we had a bit of a problem with the downforce as we were losing load throughout the race. On a high speed circuit you do not want that to happen. One of the most pleasing aspects of the weekend was coming back from my shunt in FP3 to qualify with the same lap time as my team-mate - I think we can take a positive note from that. The team did a great job putting the car back together in such a short time after the mistake I made (in free practice 3) and I was happy to deliver a good result for them by getting into Q3. As a team we are working well together and I’m learning a lot from the engineers and mechanics with every race that passes.
How do you handle the pressure of coming back from something like your FP3 shunt to perform so strongly in qualifying?
BS: I helped the team with the rebuild of the car and I even bled my own brakes! And I did a good job as the pedal was firm! In qualifying I had to ‘remove my brain’, as Eric told me: ‘just drive without thinking about it,’ and that’s what I did. I just attacked as I had nothing else to lose at that moment in time. I knew the car was good enough for a top ten position and that’s what I achieved.
Next stop Korea - what are your memories from last year?
BS: My memories of last year’s event are not great; I had suspension failure in practice and then I had a very difficult race with the rain, safety car and then the red flag. It was a very difficult way to learn a new track and certainly an eventful weekend. This year will be like starting afresh.
What’s your impression of the circuit?
BS: It is a difficult track, and I think there are many places where you can make mistakes. There are off-camber corners scattered through the track and for a driver that’s not really the most comfortable thing. However, it’s the same for everybody and I’m hoping that we can use Suzuka as a baseline for when we arrive in Korea then take the car out for the first time on Friday. From then we can just chip away at the time and get on target for qualifying and the race.
With a similar downforce level to Suzuka and a number of medium to high speed corners, do you think it will suit the R31?
BS: Yes, I think it should. There are a few big traction requirements in Korea but the type of tarmac is very smooth and the layout of the track mean that all the weaknesses we had in Singapore won’t be as pronounced in Korea. We should be strong again and our car should be in the top 10 all the way to the end of the season.
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Credit: Lotus Renault GP (www.lotusrenaultgp.com)
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