Trulli confides

How was the German Grand Prix weekend for you?

Very cold ! The weather was more like a winter test, with very low track temperatures and rain, which didn't help us. Our car runs better when it's warm. When we checked the weather forecast for the weekend, we saw that the conditions would not be ideal for us. And this was verified.

The free practice sessions went well though. What did you expect for qualifying?

I was quite satisfied with our performance in free practice. We were in the top six in both Friday sessions and that gave me confidence. Of course, it's hard to say where exactly you stand in the hierarchy after the Friday sessions, because you don't know what schedule everyone else follows. However, I was hopeful. With the exception of Monaco, I have always reached Q3 this season and I have always fought in the top 6; so that was also my goal.

What happened ?

The few minutes it rained ruined my qualifying session; we were unlucky. I had no problem getting through Q1, but the conditions in Q2 were very changeable and when it's like that, it's always difficult to make the right choice of tires. There was a small weather window at the end of Q2 when the rain stopped and the track conditions were reasonably good, but we took a little while to choose our tires and the rain returned.

In what state of mind did you approach the race?

First of all we had to try to understand what the weather was going to be like. Saturday was expected to be a wet race but the rain came on Sunday morning. During the race, the conditions were good even if it was a little cold. Starting from 14th place, it?s difficult to have big ambitions but we know that our car is competitive; so I was determined to fight and move up the rankings. We were confident and we didn?t give up.

Can you explain to us what happened in the first lap?

As always at the Nurburgring, the first few corners are very difficult to negotiate and there are many battles for positions. When you start from the middle of the grid it's always quite tricky, but everything was going well until another car overtook me and damaged my front wing. I realized that something was wrong with my wing, even though I couldn't see the damaged part. So I returned to the stand.

How did the race go after that?

Well, it?s very difficult to expect anything from a race when you have to make an extra stop. Immediately after this stop, I was very fast and if you look at the lap times, mine were as good or better than several cars in the top 6. So I quickly caught up to the back of the pack but then I was stuck in traffic throughout the race.

What do you expect for the Hungarian Grand Prix?

I hope the temperatures will be a little high. This should suit us more. In the past, we have had some great races in Hungary. But the years go by and are not necessarily the same. I don't know what we should expect. We continue to move forward and the car certainly has more potential than what we showed at the Nürburgring.