Canadian GP: Spyker Friday practice notes

The Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team had a productive opening day of the Canadian Grand Prix today. Christijan Albers a nd Adrian Sutil completed a total of 55 and 50 laps respectively over the two free practice sessions held today at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, with a best time of 1:19.453 and 1:19.662.

Both drivers worked on the set-up of their F8-VIIs throughout the day and evaluated the soft and supersoft tyre options available over the wee kend. In the morning's session Christijan and Adrian initially struggled to find a balance on the dirty track surface, but as the track cleaned in the afternoon, both were able to improve their times by over two seconds and finish just one second away from the top 12.

Preparations will continue for the 70-lap Canadian Grand Prix tomorrow with a third and final free practice session in advance of Qualifying in the afternoon.

Adrian Sutil
"It was a difficult day as the track was very dirty at the beginni ng of the day and I had a lot of oversteer. It was just in the last 20 minutes that we started to get a good set-up and improve the balance an d I could start to drive with some more confidence and push. It was ver y difficult to find the right set-up as conditions changed and the brak e set-up was different to all the other circuits I have driven on. The softer tyre also started to grain very quickly but in the end we found something that will help. We still have some work to do tomorrow, when hopefully we will have a better day."

Christijan Albers (car 21)
"It was a hard day today, but it was good all the same. We are get ting closer with the set-up and I am getting more comfortable in the ca r as we found something in the set-up. We will see tomorrow for Qualify ing, it's maybe too early to make predictions, but hopefully we wi ll continue along this line to get stronger and stronger from now on."

Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer
"We had a reasonable day with both cars. The track conditions in t he morning session were quite difficult but as they improved during the second session, the general balance of both cars got better. We are st ill struggling with the rear tyres going off, but towards the end of th e day it became less of an issue. Christijan is reasonably happy with h is car and steadily improved the balance throughout the session, but Ad rian struggled slightly. Both could have improved their times fairly si gnificantly but for a couple of mistakes on their last runs, but overal l we are fairly competitive with the group in front and hopefully will be in the same or a better position than we were in Monaco."

Credit: spyker