Indeed, with
Scott Speed having already departed, Liuzzi must now contend with a remainder of a season in which he knows he will be fighting to stay in
Formula 1 next year. Still, this could manifest in two different ways; either Liuzzi will be unmotivated enough merely to see out the rest of the season, or possibly he will use this time to impress prospective employers.
The latter is most likely because in new team-mate
Sebastian Vettel, he has a benchmark. The fresh-faced young German is stern competition and is highly regarded up and down the pit lane. If Liuzzi can out pace him over the remaining rounds, then he stands a chance to displaying what he was always expected to show when he debuted in 2006.
Still, Turkey represents a year since Vettel burst onto the Formula 1 scene by assuming the role of Friday test driver for
BMW. When he was quickest in his first session, Vettel’s status as a star of the future was guaranteed – one year on, now comes the time in which he really must deliver.
Spyker F1 – Sakon Yamamoto (#20), Adrian Sutil (#21):
Spyker embark on their biggest weekend of the year as they launch the much anticipated B-specification of their F8-VII, a car which has been designed under the watchful eye of Mike Gascoyne.
That alone is expected to help the team up the grid, although most concerned are playing down the fact that they will now be a consistent mid-field contender and are instead insisting it is in 2008 that they will be able to show their true colours.
Nonetheless, Hungary was a turning point for Spyker alone after Adrian Sutil comprehensively out raced the
Honda of
Rubens Barrichello and was due to do the same to
Jenson Button had he not retired.
"I think Hungary was one of the best results of the season as we finished in front of a works team,” beamed Sutil. “For sure we have had some other good races this year, for example Indianapolis, where we have been able to get and stay close to the others but this last race was one of the best."
