2011-09-11
Monza, Italy
Sunday, 11th of September 2011
Weather: Maximum temperature: Air 29ºC, Track 41ºC - Sunny
Race: 53 laps
Track distance: 5.793 km
Vitantonio Liuzzi F111-002 #23 DNF
Daniel Ricciardo F111-003 #22 DNF
Daniel Ricciardo, the 22 year old Australian rookie could not start the fifth race of his career. The car stalled on the grid and the mechanics pushed the car back to the garage. It took about 18 minutes for the mechanics to refill and bleed the water system after the pressure release valve was activated before Ricciardo could rejoin the race. The Australian crossed the finish line 14 laps behind the race winner, which prevented him from qualifying. Vitantonio Liuzzi got on to the grass at the start and lost control of his car making his car spin into the pack and ending his race. The stewards considered that Liuzzi caused a collision when involved in the incident and reprimanded him with a penalty of five grid positions at the next race.
Vitantonio Liuzzi: “I was really looking forward to my home race and, although I knew it was going to be tough, it all ended prematurely. I had a good start getting past both Virgins, Lotuses and Daniel but then I went for another overtaking manoeuvre and got closed out. That put me into the grass and once I was there I tried to slow down but completely lost control of the car and unfortunately hit other cars. I am really sorry for Petrov, Rosberg and the other drivers who were forced to retire because of this. Now it’s over but we are fighters and we have to look ahead to the next race”.
Daniel Ricciardo: “The race started as bad as it could, for some reason the car went into anti-stall, jammed in third gear and then the engine switched off. I couldn’t get restarted and had to get the car back into the box. The mechanics got it going again and I was back on track but the engine temperature rose and they called me back to check it and it took us a few more minutes until we could rejoin the race. I went straight into a bit of traffic which made it hard to get a bit of rhythm. But at least in the second stint at the end of the race I was able to get in quite a few good laps and we got some data out of that. A little bit is better than nothing but I need to keep pushing for a better result in Singapore”.
Colin Kolles, Team Principal: “This was a weekend to forget after losing both cars before the first corner of the first lap. The mechanics managed to fire up the car and Ricciardo completed 39 laps. We knew that Monza would be difficult but everything was set up for a satisfying race. It is a pity for both our drivers, but let´s look ahead to a much better weekend in Singapore”.
Credit: Hispania Racing (www.hispaniaracing.com)
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