A Sunny Afternoon
Going into Silverstone, all the weather forecasts predicted a wet weekend for the Grand Prix. We prefer to race in dry conditions, and, obviously, it came right on Sunday afternoon.
The circuit was a bit different compared to 2009, when I was last there with a F1 car.
We started in rain and qualified in rain, but then we had a race with slicks. That was a nice change, and it could have been even better for us, if the first lap would have gone in our way.
The car was very fast with the hard compound. It was nice to net the fastest lap of the race to prove the speed.
I got a pretty good start, and there was a chance to overtake Vettel. I pushed to get through, but then I had to go over the kerb, and while trying to avoid putting the front wing on it, I lost some places.
So instead of gaining some places, I lost some, and that really didnt help.
The car was good through the whole weekend. Obviously, it gives a good feeling, when the car is fast and strong. We look like getting ourselves to the area, where we can get the full speed out of the car, and thats encouraging for the second part of this season.
The race could have been better, but while we were stuck behind some slower cars, we lost too much time. Its still tricky to get pass some cars. I tried, but you really have to work hard to find enough pace and space to overtake.
As in almost every race this year, we had the pace to fight for first place. Obviously, winning is the most difficult job to do in racing. You have to have every single detail right during a race weekend, and while the competition is so tightly packed at the top, you really cannot miss anything.
Qualifying was a bit of a lottery while it was so wet. We made a small error picking up the full wet tyres for Q3, so we lost some importatant laps with intermediates in the end of the session. Still P6 was ok for the race in those conditions.
The race was similar to Valencia, where we lost the places we gained after getting off the line. The car felt very good all the time, but we had the best speed of all at the end of the race - it was a shame, there were no more laps to use that pace maximally to improve position.
All in all, it was fifth place for me and 18 points altogether for the team, so it was a positive finish for a tricky weekend. We are in a good position in constructors championshipand the car keeps getting better.
Hopefully we find our way to get a perfect weekend, too!
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