Q & A with Vitantonio Liuzzi

In an interview with AUTOSPORT afterwards the Italian expressed his optimism for the season ahead after declaring the VJM03 to be a 'real car'.

Q. After a full day's dry running with the new car, have you been able to form a clearer impression?

Vitantonio Liuzzi: I can confirm what we said yesterday, that the car seems to be born well. It reacted well today in terms of reliability, we covered around 80 laps today without any big issues. We did a lot of set-up changes, and tried it in a few different conditions and the car reacted really well. I like this VJM03 because it seems to be a real car, and it responds with a true answer every time we change or try something. So all in all it is positive feedback.

Q. Top speed through the speed traps suggests the car is still strong on aero efficiency, can you feel that in the car?

VL: For sure the aero department worked on the strengths of last year, we saw last year that we had good results because of that on a few occasions. They worked on trying to develop the rest of the car. But this was something that the aero department worked hard to keep this strength really high, and hopefully we will see it working again in a few races this year.

Q. From what we can make of the times it looks like the car is in the ballpark, is it quick enough?

VL: Yes definitely the car has shown very good performance in many different configurations, so we are pretty positive about it. As we've said you cannot really compare with other teams, but for us we achieved everything we wanted to today and now we go ahead with the programme tomorrow.

Q. Would you like to see the car doing some proper long runs before the end of the test?

VL: We did a lot of semi-long runs, we always made more than 10 laps and it looked really positive. Long runs are not something that impress me, we want to see the car go faster and faster and that it fits well with the changes to the settings that we make. That is the most important thing.

Q. Did any of the other cars make any particular impression on you? What did you make of the Ferrari?

VL: I have only been on the track at the same time as them when I was not in a competitive configuration. I didn't see many cars that particularly impressed me, I have to say. I do not mean that we have a winning car, but last year it was clear that the Brawn was a step ahead since the beginning. This year I think there will be a much bigger fight in Bahrain.

Q. And you are confident that the targets you have set for yourself this year are achievable?

VL: Until we go to Bahrain we will not really know, as we always say, but we are optimistic. We will have lots of steps forward coming for the first races, a lot of development, and the team never stops pushing and working in the aero departments. I think the targets we have set are achievable. We are looking forward to Bahrain.