"This is the most important and satisfying win since Macau..."
What a weekend – I’ve scored my first win in the GP2 Series with the DAMS team at just the second attempt and really kick-started my season. It’s taken me a while to gather my thoughts, but really this is the most important and satisfying win since I won the Macau Grand Prix at the end of 2013. It’s a real weight off my shoulders, because when you arrive in a top category like GP2, just below Formula 1, you feel a lot of pressure to perform.
We weren’t that quick in free practice, but usually when I arrive at a track this year it’s going to be my first time there in anything anywhere near as quick as a GP2 car, which is massively faster than anything I’ve ever raced. You only get one set of tyres in free practice, so it’s a steep learning curve, but I didn’t feel as though our form was too drastic.
That was proved in qualifying. I went second on my first set of tyres, then improved on my second set to stay in P2, behind Stoffel Vandoorne. That was good in the grand scheme of things, but I was a little bit too far away from Stoffel for my liking. I hate being second – it’s almost better to be third, because you don’t feel as though you’ve just missed out on a pole or a win!
I had a good start in race one, but unfortunately I lost a place to my team-mate Pierre Gasly at the first corner. Stoffel, Pierre and I had all gone for the softer tyre for the start, while some of the quick guys behind us were on the harder one.
What really made things difficult for us was that the DRS wasn’t working for much of the race – that’s the system that opens up the rear wing to reduce downforce, so we can overtake more easily on the longest straights. So when those of us who’d started on soft tyres pitted early to get onto the harder tyres, we had a real struggle to pass the slower guys who’d started on the hards.
Then, later in the race, when guys like Alexander Rossi and Mitch Evans pitted to get off their hards and onto softs, the DRS was working, so it left Pierre and I as sitting ducks. That’s really frustrating, because you choose your strategy with DRS in mind. If no one has it throughout the race, then fine, but the way things panned out it ruined our strategy.
Stoffel got through a group of slower cars with about 15 laps to go, and Pierre couldn’t attack them straight away, so that’s where he and I really lost out. In all honesty I didn’t want to start racing with him because he’s my team-mate, and my hard tyres were beginning to feel not so great, but Pierre wasn’t making progress. There just came a point where I had to go, but he didn’t make life very easy at all! I got him in the end but unfortunately we’d both lost time.
So fifth was a bit disappointing, and that put me fourth on the reversed grid for race two. I had a really good start – I’m actually not sure it was that great and I wasn’t expecting it, but Pierre and Raffaele Marciello were both slow away and I squeezed through the middle of them, closing my eyes and hoping for the best!
That put me second behind Norman Nato, but straight away we had a virtual safety car, where we all had to drive at slow speed for a lap. When it finished, ‘Lello’ Marciello behind me spun out, and that put Stoffel up to third and left me with a feeling of impending doom… That’s what really made me attack Nato, because I wanted to put a car between me and Stoffel. I was pleased with my move to take the lead from Nato, which was really late on the brakes, but unfortunately it didn’t take long for Stoffel to pass him either.
From then on it was a typical GP2 tactical battle. It stabilised for three or four laps, with Stoffel just outside the DRS-use zone, and with me just within the limit of what was necessary to save the tyres. Then he started attacking and that’s where I felt the pressure, and I didn’t feel as though I had much left.
My engineer was really good though – he told me Stoffel would have only two laps before he would start to fade on his tyres, and he got it almost spot-on. When I saw him back off, I immediately pegged it back, so when he came back at me later on I had enough in reserve.
It was so satisfying to beat Stoffel, because he’s always been the clear title favourite after finishing second last year. This is the first time in GP2 where things have gone my way and I’ve profited – the cards fell our way, I got my act together and I managed to exploit it.
It was great also that Pierre finished on the podium. Jolyon Palmer on the TV commentary got it spot-on when he referred to our battle in race one as a clash of egos! But it helps all of us if we’re both going well, because we need to be strong and working together.
What was really nice was that, after I got out of the car in parc ferme, as well as DAMS, plus my trainer Matt Tait and manager Myles Mordaunt, there was a bunch of people from Williams to greet me – the guys who I spend most of my time with at the workshop when I’m there. That’s really cool, and I can’t wait for them to put me in their Formula 1 car on Wednesday for the test.
My main target is to be fast, see what I can do and make a professional job of it. There’ll be a lot of F1 ‘junior’ drivers out there but I’m in one of the fast cars so I’m really looking forward to it – it should go swimmingly!
