Monteiro Plays Down EJ15B Expectations

Portugal's Monteiro is driving Jordan's only EJB15B at the Italian Grand Prix after winning the toss of a coin with Indian teammate Narain Karthikeyan.

The Toyota-powered team completed nearly 1,400 km in testing the heavily revised car at the Italian circuit last week.
 
Monteiro was happy with the car's reliability but said it won't make a big difference in terms of speed.

"It was a good first day," said Monteiro. "We went through our tyre choice programme and car set-up. As we noticed last week, the new car is reliable, as we haven't encountered any problem today. The gain is not huge but we are closing the gap with the cars in front. Every gain is a gain.

"As we have already said, Monza is maybe not the best track to introduce the new car because of its low downforce configuration. Spa and the remaining races should suit our cars better but it is still an improvement. Now we have to work on the stability for the rest of the weekend."

Monteiro finished in 20th position in Friday's practice, one place and two tenths of a second ahead of Karthikeyan.

"It is a shame that I do not drive the new car," said the Indian. "I tested it last week here at Monza and I could feel the difference straight away this morning. It was especially obvious in the braking zones and in the fast corners.

"The car balance got better at the end of the afternoon session when the track surface was improving. I am looking forward to driving again tomorrow as I really enjoy this circuit."