Doornbos Optimistic of Progress
Robert Doornbos believes the Minardi team can still make progress to move further away from rivals Jordan at the Chinese Grand Prix
Both Doornbos and teammate Christijan Albers finished ahead of Jordan rivals Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan in today's second practice session at Shanghai.
Doornbos, who had driven at the circuit last year when he was Jordan's third driver, was confident of finding more speed.
"It's great to be back in Shanghai, having made my F1 debut here last year as a test driver," said Doornbos. "It's a great circuit and a wonderful facility, so well done to the Chinese for what they've accomplished.
"We struggled a little with set-up this morning and were therefore off the pace compared with the others. This afternoon, however, we made progress, and working with my engineer, Riccardo Adami, we were able to go in the right direction. There's definitely more time to come, and we're pushing hard."
Albers, on the other hand, had to learn the circuit as today's was his first visit. The Dutchman, however, is feeling optimistic of further improvements.
"We had a reasonable opening day," he said. "The problem to start with was that I didn't really know the track, but now, with 30 laps completed, I feel much more confident with it.
"We still need to find a good set-up and improve the car further, but it's only Friday. We'll see what we can do tomorrow."
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