Bahrain GP

29.11.20

p20

1m34.591s

p14

Above all else today, it was fantastic to see Romain walk away from his accident. It’s another reminder that motorsport is dangerous, the risks are there, and we all have to thank the FIA and the other organisations for their efforts to improve safety. I’m sure there will be more lessons learned from today’s crash, which could so easily have been a lot worse. Romain, I wish you a very speedy recovery.

As for the race, it was definitely one of the stronger ones of my rookie season. The goal was to finish ahead of our direct competitors – the Haas and Alfa Romeos – and despite starting behind them I knew if I did a good job, managed the tyres and strategy, it was possible.

I made a good start and jumped some positions, but the restart wasn’t as positive and a couple of misjudgements from my side limited what was possible. More lessons learned, then. Also, there haven’t been many occasions this year where I’ve been in such a full racing situation – and that gives me more valuable experience I can carry forward.

Overall, as a team I think we did a decent job. We managed the tyres and strategy well, and undercut some of the cars on the last stint. It was a confident-booster after a difficult round in Turkey. Now I’m looking forward to carrying that momentum into this week’s race, and seeing what’s possible on the new track layout.