DAMS fights back!
On Saturday Alex Lynn scored a top-3 finish and the next day Pierre Gasly fought his way up into the points. The DAMS drivers proved their competitiveness and that of the team this weekend. Lynn, in particular, who set the fastest lap in the race on the Spielberg circuit, was the man to watch all weekend apart from Stoffel Vandoorne who was on another planet compared to his rivals. The French squad's encouraging overall results could have been even better had it not been for poor starts. After a promising free practice session (Alex P5 and Pierre P7) qualification confirmed the scintillating form of the French driver who was third despite having to cope with overheating brakes. His British team-mate was delayed by another driver on his best flying lap, and he had to make do with tenth on the grid, which was far from reflecting his true potential. It all went wrong for Gasly right from the start. He almost stalled and lost three places in the first corner; then his front wing was damaged in a contact with Yelloly and his race was a nightmare from that moment on: he finished 13th. Lynn, on the other hand, was absolutely flying and helped by a number of incisive overtaking moves and fastest laps as well as an intelligent tyre strategy, he fought his way onto the third step of the podium. The DAMS drivers' destinies were almost the same the next day but in reverse! This time it was the Englishman who stalled when the lights went out and luckily all the other drivers managed to avoid him. Lynn rejoined from the pit lane in front of the leaders and he showed just how quick he is by setting the fastest lap in the race as he opened up a gap between himself and the front-runners. Gasly made a stunning start and pulled back several places to slot into seventh not far behind the leaders. After half distance Markelov went off line in front of him after a failed overtaking attempt to take the lead. Although Gasly managed to pass the Russian he lost time and contact with the compact group of five cars in front of him. He clinched a confidence-building sixth place at the flag. Overall, it was a positive weekend for DAMS and they are looking forward to the next round in England with their tails up. François Sicard, Managing Director: "The Austrian weekend has helped reassure us. Our drivers are on the pace and our technical team is doing a great job; they found the right setups and carried out excellent pit stops. Alex showed just how exceptionally quick he is and we're very satisfied with his top-three finish on Saturday. Pierre was also pretty remarkable in qualifying and in the race, even if he didn't quite make the best of his performance. We're going to find the solution to the clutch problems that hampered their starts and now we're looking ahead to Silverstone" Pierre Gasly: "The weekend's results don't really reflect our level of competitiveness. On Saturday after my bad start and my contact with Yelloly's car which broke my front wing and caused the car to understeer and led to rapid tyre wear, my race was ruined. On Sunday, Markelov made me lose too much time; otherwise a top-five finish was on the cards. We've got the speed and if Lady Luck smiles on us we'll be gunning for a top-three finish in England" Alex Lynn: "We managed to get our challenge back on course after our Monaco disappointment. I'm very happy with Saturday's podium even if I think that second place was a possibility. In any case, the team did a great job with a very good strategy and a great pit stop. Obviously, I'm a bit frustrated with Sunday as my race pace was quicker than that of the leaders. Now I'm going to concentrate really hard in view of Silverstone, a circuit I know very well and one I like very much. " Austria summary Pierre Gasly : P13-P6 Alex Lynn : P3-P20 Classification drivers' championship 1. S. Vandoorne, 155 points ; 2. A. Rossi, 78 ; 3. R. Haryanto, 70... 5. A. Lynn, 42... 13. P. Gasly, 20. Classification teams' championship 1. ART, 184 points ; 2. Racing Engineering, 96 ; 3. Campos, 91 ; 4. DAMS, 62. Next round: Silverstone (Great Britain), 4-5 July.
