Halfway through Lap 26 of the British Grand Prix will mark the central point of the 2010 Formula 1 season. Before visiting a new-look Silverstone, GPUpdate.net reviews each driver’s performances, including highs and lows, from the first nine races of a highly dramatic championship.
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It’s been a real up-down time for Liuzzi so far in 2010. It started brilliantly - you couldn’t have expected more - as he finished best of the rest in ninth at Sakhir, behind only ‘big four’ Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes. It then got even better for Tonio, as he was Force India’s sole points scorer again when finishing seventh at Sepang.
Then came three DNFs, joined by rumours that pressure was mounting for the Italian as test driver Paul di Resta waited in the wings. Despite all the gossip it’s fair to say that, of his three non-finishes so far this year, only his first-lap Chinese Grand Prix retirement was actually his fault, dropping the car and hitting Buemi at Turn 6.
By Turkey, the stress was really building as team-mate Sutil continued to run ahead of Tonio, who was duly eliminated in Q1 qualifying. Just as we thought it looked as bleak as it could, though, we discovered that his car had been running with a fundamental chassis problem; once that was changed, the 29-year-old stuck it fifth on the grid in Montreal before racing to points, despite Massa’s Turn 2 antics.
Just to confuse us further, however, Tonio struggled in Valencia and was not helped by the Safety Car situation, which saw him lose positions. We know he has the pace and he’s definitely capable of achieving respectable results. What the 2004 F3000 Champion now needs is to be consistent.
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Highlight: Amazing qualifying performance in Canada to grab a possibly career-saving sixth on the grid, which becomes fifth after Webber’s penalty
Lowlight: Knocked out of qualifying at the earliest possible point in Turkey as team-mate Sutil starts seven positions further up the grid
Championship position: 12th (115 points off lead)
Grid positions: 12-13-10-18-16-10-18-5-14
Average grid position: 13th
Finishing positions: 9-7-R-R-R-9-13-9-16
Average finishing position: 15th
Retirements: 3 (Malaysia – forced to pit with throttle problems, China – loses rear of car at Turn 6, heading backwards into Buemi who then hits Hülkenberg, Spain – engine issue)
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