Eifel GP – post qualifying update

10.10.20

p18

1m27.812s

It’s been a strange weekend at the Nürburgring so far – the rain and fog meant no running on Friday at all, leaving us with a lot of prep work to do today. And it’s so cold, it feels more like a Canadian winter.

On Friday I got geared up as normal in terms of warm-ups and preparation. But that was followed by a lot of sitting around and waiting.

Most of the team was stuck in the garage, so I did the decent thing and made some teas and coffees for the engineers and mechanics. George and I just tried to make the best of the situation, but I had to feel sorry for the spectators who must have been pretty cold and miserable outside without any on-track action.

Today, I had just one hour on the circuit before qualifying to cover all the bases: high fuel runs, one-lap pushes and trying to get a handle on the tyres. It was very busy – but I enjoyed the challenge.

I made some changes to the car to improve the balance, and in general they worked well, but the on-track conditions were tricky and I narrowly missed out on Q2. I think it was achievable, so it was a bit disappointing to not quite make the cut.

Operationally, I think we did everything right today, and we also took some decent steps in areas around general driveability. The guys did a great job in a unique situation and now I’m all set to fight hard in tomorrow’s race.”