A puncture during ADD Motorsports driver Mitchell Gilberts first qualifier set the tone for the rest of his weekend in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. The Twickenham-based racer found it hard to recover from the early set-back at the Silverstone circuit.
And when two cars sandwiched him on the first lap of the final race, forcing him to retire early, it ended a weekend he said he would rather forget.Yet two Top 15 finishes in the other two races and the fact he was racing so well before the puncture have left the 18-year-old confident of securing his first points of the season next time round.
He said: We were first for five or six laps in the first qualifier but then I slowed and slowed and got a puncture, ending up in P17 when I should have been right up the grid.
It just seemed to go downhill from there. It left me low in confidence and trying to do too much, when I should have been in a more comfortable position.
Its been a difficult start for me, I have been used to being right up there and now Im not, so Im deflated, to be honest.But I know I can turn this round and get some points on the board and it will all come good.
In the first race, Mitchell was in P10 when he was pushed onto the grass leaving him a lot of ground to make up. So he was pleased to make it back to 14th from 20th by the end of the race.
Mitchell finished 15th in race two, while race three saw the collision on the first corner.He said: It was half wet and half dry and I had made it up to 15th from 23rd really quickly, but a driver who was coming back on after a crash sandwiched me in the middle of another driver going the other way and my suspension was gone.
Im massively disappointed. I feel I could and should be getting points and that it should have been a really good weekend. Qualifying set the tone for the rest of the weekend and I was probably trying to do too much to get back in to better positions after that.
But thats how it goes sometimes, you have to pick yourself up and prepare again for the next race.
Mitchell now has a days testing before moving on to Hockenheim for the next round.He added: I have another days testing before Hockenheim. Its going to be difficult to put things right, but Ill work hard and Im sure it will all come together next time.
