08.12.22 NL Blog
Abu Dhabi GP: The story behind my weekend
Staying at Silverstone for a second race is an advantage in terms of getting straight into a rhythm on Friday – but overnight the wind direction shifted 180 degrees, so today it felt like driving a new car!
Nonetheless, in final practice I got on top of it pretty quickly. I adapted, and put in some good laps. The target was to aim for a position in Q2.
Heading into Q1 I was expecting a similar feeling from the car, but unfortunately for one reason or another it was more unpredictable to drive. When I expected a bit of oversteer I got a lot of it, and it was the same story with understeer.
When everything is on the limit, it only takes a little thing to throw you off-line – and start a chain reaction going into the next corner. I wasn’t happy with either of my push laps in Q1. There were a few big moments on the first, while the second just felt very, very average.
One positive is that I know I’m nowhere near my limit. I just have to work on understanding how to get the best out of the car when it isn’t 100 per cent in the window I need. A lot of that will come with experience.
Looking ahead to the race, Pirelli has moved softer with the compound choices so I think a one-stop will be difficult. More stops might introduce more variables, which is good for us.
I got some more experience last weekend, particularly in terms of actually racing close rivals, so if I can build on that then I’ll be in a good place. The goal, as always, is to keep making progress and moving forward.
07.08.2020 - 09.08.2020 | ||
---|---|---|
FP1 | Fri | 11:00 |
FP2 | Fri | 15:00 |
FP3 | Sat | 12:00 |
Quali | Sat | 14:00 |
Race | Sun | 14:10 |
All times local
Get free exclusive newsletter updates, behind the scenes videos, images and loads more!