Rogue Profile of Alex Yoong

“I was a bit handicapped at the outset by never having driven this circuit in the dry,” Yoong said. “I felt I had it sorted after the second 45-minute session this morning, but I underestimated the levels of grip available here in the dry with the car in qualifying trim. I’m particularly sorry for the guys, who worked really hard to get me in the race. It’s very disappointing.”

“We didn’t do many laps in the warm-up, so the first time I drove the car with heavy fuel was in the race, and we had quite a bit of understeer,” Alex said. “As the fuel load became lighter, the car was getting better, but then, after my pit stop, I ran over some debris at the Casino and hit the barriers as a result. A rear trackrod was damaged in the impact, and that was the end of my race. The boys have done a terrific job all weekend and I feel really sorry for not finishing my race today.”

“It is obviously good to finish this Grand Prix. I haven’t finished a race for a while, so I’m definitely happy with today’s outcome,” Alex said. “It was quite a hard race for me, because I didn’t have the use of the drink bottle from the beginning. Otherwise, it was uneventful, with the exception of a problem I experienced engaging the pit-lane speed limiter. As a result, I received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty. Generally, though, I’m quite happy with today’s outcome.”

“I gave it my best shot today, but unfortunately, it wasn’t good enough. I’m obviously extremely disappointed to have missed making the grid for tomorrow’s race, particularly by such a small margin,” said a very disappointed Alex Yoong. “ Silverstone is a tough circuit, and with my relative lack of experience racing or testing here, it would have helped a lot if there had been the opportunity to run in the dry yesterday. There wasn’t, however, and the car was also suffering from some rear instability under braking today, which didn’t help matters. The biggest problem, though, was that we lost a lot of time in the quick corners, a factor that was due, at least in part, I believe, to the lack of power steering on the cars this weekend.”

Yoong’s Grand Prix weekend started in familiar fashion. The Malaysian driver had
not looked like Formula one material all season and his quest to qualify for the
race was already under threat after he lost time on the Friday when he spun off
after he lost control of his Minardi riding the kerbs too hard.

"It has been a day of mixed fortunes. I had a good opening session
this morning but, in common with a number of other drivers, had a harmless spin
at turn two this afternoon. Unluckily, the car became ‘beached’ on the kerb and,
as a result, I lost most of the second session," Yoong explained.

Alex Yoong’s race ended in auspicious circumstances. After a spin earlier in the
race at the Spoon Curve the Malaysian repeated the feat on lap sixteen but this
time the Minardi was beached in the gravel and Yoong was out of the race.

"I caught the lights just right and made a great start, but then de
la Rosa squeezed me and I wasn’t able to gain as many places as I should have.
I also had a small touch with Mark on the opening lap when I passed him, fortunately
without any damage to either car," Alex said. "The chassis balance
wasn’t bad, but the track was quite slippery compared with this morning and, as
a result, there was some oversteer in the car. Unfortunately, my car was not fitted
with power steering this afternoon, and when you’re correcting for oversteer all
the time, it wears you out a bit. I had a small slide at turn two, but without
the power assistance, I just wasn’t able to catch it in time. It’s a shame not
to have finished, but considering this is very much a power circuit, I was happy
with my lap times in the race."