Liuzzi: “I’d have passed Alguersuari easily”

Posted by Mikel on September 3rd, 2010 at 04:55pm

Vitantonio Liuzzi says he would have easily passed Jaime Alguersuari if the Toro Rosso driver hadn’t cut the chicane during the Belgian Grand Prix.

Alguersuari was given a 20-second time penalty by the stewards after the race, demoting him to 13th and promoting Liuzzi to tenth. Liuzzi said:

We could have easily passed him, but he did a mistake in the last corner two laps from the end, he just cut across. He gained around two seconds, and I would have easily passed him on the straight because our top speed is always strong. It was disappointing initially because we finished 11th, just outside the points, but we had to wait for the stewards to take a decision about Alguersuari’s move.
Vitantonio Liuzzi

The move was not shown during the live broadcast of the race.

He also said his front wing was damaged before his contact with Sebastian Vettel:

At the restart on the first lap I had a little contact ahead of me at Les Combes and a part of my nose was broken. So we suffered a lot with understeer and snap oversteer, because all the aero balance was affected. It was costing a lot of downforce, but not enough to stop for a new one.

[I pitted early] because of rear graining on the soft tyres. When I came in the team didn’t change the nose because they didn’t realise how bad the damage was, so I changed it only the second time, after the accident with Sebastian. When he ran over my front wing, it cost me a lot.
Vitantonio Liuzzi

He believes he would have finished closer to team mate Adrian Sutil, who was fifth, had it not been for the collision with Vettel:

It’s a shame, because without the accident with Sebastian Vettel, we could have finished in eighth position. This is what can happen in a crazy race, but I enjoyed it a lot.
Vitantonio Liuzzi

2010 Belgian Grand Prix

• Liuzzi: “I’d have passed Alguersuari easily”
• Button denies braking early in Vettel crash
• Hamilton “wasn’t pushing” when he went off
• 2010 Belgian Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Who was the best driver of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend?
• Damage limitation for Webber - but not Vettel (Red Bull race review)
• Ferrari’s practice pace disappears on Sunday (Ferrari race review)
• Renault’s latest upgrade gives Kubica a shot at victory (Renault race review)
• Both cars score (Force India race review)
• Recovery drives (Mercedes race review)

Browse all 2010 Belgian Grand Prix articles

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