Team-mate Alex Wurz echoed the belief that testing could have given
Williams a nudge forward in the intense battle for midfield supremacy.
“All the other teams have also been testing upgrades as we have, but I think we have the car to bring home some points from Magny-Cours," the Austrian insists, "Personally, I like the track, but I have not yet raced on the new layout of the last sector, although I am sure that I will tune into the modified section very quickly. There’s one certainty this weekend and that’s that it will again be a very competitive field and another fierce fight for points.”
Scuderia Toro Rosso – Vitantonio Liuzzi (#18), Scott Speed (#19):
After a promising Canadian GP, in which both drivers could have scored had they not crashed out, America proved to be less successful for Tonio Liuzzi and
Scott Speed, the local favourite even having the misfortune of the equipment turning on him in the garage!
Both drivers lamented the continuing lack of the quick-shift gearbox that the STR2 has been waiting for since the start of the year, but should finally get their hands on it at Magny-Cours after a relatively successful test at
Silverstone last week.
Although the weather and the usual gremlins - notably a power train failure - played a part in delaying progress during the three days, technical director Giorgio Ascanelli was delighted to confirm several developments for this weekend's return to Europe.
“We did our homework on various solutions; some paid off and some didn’t,” he reckons, “Until the final afternoon, general reliability seemed good, and we managed to put the equivalent of three race distances on the same quick-shift gearbox. In performance terms, it seems better too. To sum up, the three days allowed us to sign off new steering and suspension components - and the quick-shift box - for the French Grand Prix.”
Spyker F1 – Christijan Albers (#20), Adrian Sutil (#21):
Although the results tend to suggest otherwise, Spyker had another race to be satisfied with at Indianapolis, with the pace of the F8-VII again closer to those ahead of it on the grid, and Adrian Sutil turning in a promising - and unsullied - performance right from the start.
