Zoom Coulthard all set for his final Grand Prix start

Fabrice Lom, the man responsible for the coordination of Renault’s V8s at Red Bull Racing looks ahead to the final race of the year. The Milton Keynes-based team are seventh in the championship with 29 points, five behind the Toro Rosso Ferrari squad.

Fabrice, what are your thoughts on the performance of Red Bull Racing in China?
"From Renault’s point of view the Grand Prix was very disappointing. We suffered our first engine failure since beginning our collaboration with Red Bull Racing, which was a shame. We had already used our joker with Mark and so we couldn’t avoid the penalty. It’s a shame because we were looking good in Shanghai and we were more competitive than Toro Rosso. Unfortunately, on a circuit like that, it’s difficult to recover from a ten-place grid penalty so even though the car was very quick, we finished outside the points.

What are your aims for the end of the season?
"Clearly we want to finish ahead of Toro Rosso as there are only five points between us and so it’s not impossible to make that up in Brazil. "

What are the challenges of the Interlagos circuit?
"First of all, Interlagos is at altitude and so the density of the air is less than at sea level, which means that the engine suffers less under load. However, the final corner and the main straight consist of a period of full throttle for around 16 seconds and that can be tricky. We are confident, but China showed that you have to be vigilant on performance and even if Interlagos is not a big test in terms of reliability, we will take all the usual precautions."

Part of the long period of full throttle goes through a corner. Does that cause any problems?
"It’s a long left-hander but it’s not a problem because our oil pump is situated on the right hand side of the engine. If it was a long right hand decent, it would be a different story."

E.A. © CAPSIS International