Liuzzi pilot
Throughout his professional career, Vitantonio Liuzzi he participated in several open-wheel competitions, reaching the peak of his experience in Formula 1. He became one of the last Italian drivers present in the Circusthe 43-year-old from Puglia made his debut in 2005 with the newborn Red Bull, alternating with Christian Klien and immediately entering the points on his debut in the San Marino GP with eighth place. Spent the following year in Red Bull, also here in the first year of the Faenza team in F1, Liuzzi remained two seasons with the former Minardi, obtaining his best result in the top series with 6th place in China (equaled in 2010 in South Korea). Hired by Force India as a test driver for 2008, the Euro Formula 3000 champion returned to the track as an official driver for the Indian team in 2009, remaining there the following year before retiring in 2011 after a disappointing season with HRT.
Liuzzi steward
After other open-wheel experiences such as Super Formula and Formula E, Liuzzi returned to Formula 1 covering other roles. The 43 year old from Locorotondo has often been promoted by the FIA as deputy commissioner for some GPs, becoming part of the team of stewards (in the role reserved for former drivers) who apply the sporting regulations during tests or races. A task that Liuzzi commented on in the podcast 'Beyond the Grid'underlining how different it is from that of a pilot: “I have to say that it's completely different – he has declared – and it was a big change. Obviously I preferred driving because I love adrenaline in my life, but I have to say that this step was a big change in my career.”
“Being on the other side of the desk is pretty cool – he added – I can now understand why I argued with stewards in the past and why many times they could be right, given that they had many tools to analyze the episodes. I have to say I like this position. I like being back on the F1 track, in the paddock where I grew up, and it's always a good feeling because F1 is always my life.”
How to judge accidents
As indicated by Liuzzi himself, Race Direction decisions often end up in the eye of the storm, especially due to the assessments of contacts or accidents initially criticized by the riders. Decisions which, moreover, must be taken with a sense of responsibility and quickly, which represents a real challenge: “Must intervene fairly quickly – he added – but I have to say that I make 90% of decisions quickly. As I said before, we have many tools to analyze the accident with the cameras, with radio teams between pilots and engineers, and with telemetry. Let's quickly evaluate all these details, and we have very professional people which allow us to judge quickly. In some cases, immediately after the accident, I feel confident in the outcome, but afterwards, with all the camera angles and radio communications, I change my mind“.
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