Although somewhat forgotten in the midst of
Sebastian Vettel's superb performance, but not so impressive retirement,
Scuderia Toro Rosso was still able to celebrate their first point of the season, courtesy of a fine drive by Vitantonio Liuzzi.
While a third place may have been in the offing for much of the race as Vettel chased the leaders, Liuzzi was instead having to embark on a ‘back-to-front' race after abandoning his regular machine and switching to the wet race biased spare car just before the start.
Nonetheless, save for a spin in the closing stages of the race, Liuzzi simply picked off rivals as they hit problems and when
Nick Heidfeld retired on the penultimate lap, the Italian moved up to eighth place to score a first point of the season.
An important result for the driver given his imminent exit from the team at the end of the season, Liuzzi was delighted to survive a ‘tense' race and at least leave the team having delivered them another point.
“It was a great race with 67 laps of pure tension because we were aquaplaning all race long. I drove well, especially given that I had qualified badly, after choosing a set-up with little downforce. Therefore, given the conditions this afternoon, I chose to start from the pit lane in the T car that was set up for the wet.
“In the end, I managed to score a point which is really a boost for the whole team. Conditions were definitely critical for everyone, but we are drivers and it is our job to race and in any case, this is a very safe track.”
