Trulli: I was quickest on wets at US!

By role
October 2 2003

Italian driver Jarno Trulli finished 4th at the US Grand Prix after fighting a hard race. Trulli was hampered earlier on in the race for the decission to go with dry tyres when started to rain.

This meant that he had to go back to pits to change the tyres to wets as rain was hitting hard after lap 22.

In an interview for autosport.com Trulli is satisfied with his result and also with the pace that he showed once the change of tyres was made:

"In the wet I was the quickest driver on Michelins, and on dries at the end of the race I was extremely quick, the quickest on the track I think as well. Unfortunately it was too late." He said.

Trulli had to settle for 4th, 9 seconds behind Heinz Harald Frentzen that snatched the last podium position after a very strong race.

The race started tough for both Renault drivers that experienced problems in a launch control that has so far been a key asset for the team this season:

"The launch wasn't very good. It just didn't work very well, so we struggled a little bit at the beginning." He added. "In fact we had to work quite a lot to keep the position, and I had to overtake one or two cars on the first lap. Then the race was difficult, because I was stuck behind other drivers who were slower than me, and I couldn't drive quickly. Then the race started to change a little bit when it was wet. It was a bit of a gamble which we didn't want to take, and we did the same mistake as everybody else by putting dry tyres on."

On lap 20 Jarno entered the pits and the team decided to put him dry tyres. Exiting the pits, rain started to fell thick and he had to go back to pits again on th next lap to change to wets:

"Straight away. When I came out from the pits it was really starting to rain hard. I did one more lap, and then I came in." Trulli said. "....our top speed wasn't too bad, and I had the car and the package to fight. I did several overtaking moves. In general I was very happy."

Trulli is now looking forward to the last stop of this season at Suzuka knowing that this is a track that should suit his car much better:

"Suzuka is around the corner and I think it's going to be a nice race for us." He concluded.