Abu Dhabi: HRT's Tonio Liuzzi will be back on the grid here at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after having given his car to Narain Karthikeyan to enable the Indian driver to race in front of his home fans at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.
While Luizzi is gearing up to tackle what he terms a ‘tricky' circuit, his Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo will be back on the circuit on which he drove as a test driver after last year's final event here.
Speaking about his chances here, Liuzzi said, "After lending my car to Narain [Karthikeyan] for the Indian Grand Prix, I'm really looking forward to getting back into the action in Abu Dhabi. I'm positive coming into it because in India the car appeared to suit the track well and our pace was good in comparison to our rivals."
"Abu Dhabi is a special track because there is a lot of stop and go so we need to work on braking and traction. There are not many high-speed corners and, overall, it is quite a tricky track because you have to work a lot over the kerbs," said the Italian who unfortunately did not finish the race last year.
"It is a circuit that I like and one where I have performed well in the past. We will face another tough weekend in Abu Dhabi but I am sure that we will put up a good fight," the HRT driver said.
Positive note
The young Australian, meanwhile, wants to finish the year on a positive note.
"There are only two races left in the season son I'm going to give it everything to achieve the best result possible," Ricciardo said.
"I've never raced in Abu Dhabi but have driven there last year in the young drivers' test with Red Bull so I'll be expecting it to be quite a bit different this time round, especially with the Pirelli tyres," he said.
"India would have been another successful race had it not been for the problem we encountered so I'm hoping to experience a good weekend again in Abu Dhabi," said Ricciardo, who finished 18th behind Narain at Buddh International Circuit near the Indian capital of New Delhi.
"I enjoyed driving on this circuit last year and I'm definitely looking forward to racing there this year where I'll be looking for a good result. There are only two races left in the season so I'm going to give it everything to achieve the best result possible," he said.
