Monteiro ready for Montreal

Midland F1 driver Tiago Monteiro is already in Montreal preparing for the Grand Prix this weekend and explains why he's always happy to make the trans-Atlantic journey to Canada.

Tiago Monteiro.

Photo by xpb.cc.

"I like to going to Montreal it's such a fantastic city with a great atmosphere. You can really feel that the city loves F1 and this will be my third visit to Montreal having also been here once with Champ Cars."

"I've flown out here a few days early to acclimatise, get used to the time zone and enjoy the city. This is one of two flyaway races and they are back-to-back so we have to stay really fit and focused if we are to continue building on our good work so far this season."

"The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is one of the fastest tracks we race on and we'll reach 320km/h on the back straight. Of course this means we need a set-up to let us get a high top speed, but we also need to have plenty of stability under braking as there are many very heavy braking zones as well as high-speed straights and chicanes."

"The track is very hard on brakes but we're feeling confident in this area having focused on this area in our last test session. It is quite similar to Monza in that regard."

"We need to run low downforce to fight with the top teams on the straights but need to find a compromise with the set up to still be quick in the chicanes. The car can be quite difficult to handle in the first corners which are tricky and often bumpy."

"I'm really hoping we can repeat our achievement at Silverstone and get through to the second qualifying shoot out again even though I know it will be even harder on this kind of track."

"Please don't forget: I've prepared a very nice T-shirt for my Canadian friends, and I hope that you will make a point to come and get it on Thursday afternoon at the team's hospitality area at the track."

-dca-