A point saves DAMS' honour
DAMS left Belgium after scoring a single point in what was a fairly hectic weekend for the French squad. It was a bit of a letdown after the double in Hungary a month ago by Alex Lynn and Pierre Gasly. Both cars and drivers were quick, though. Collisions and accidents in the main race had an influence on the overall results. So even if DAMS has slipped back to fourth in the teams' ratings, it will be able to prove that it's still a victory contender at Monza. Weather: sunny summerlike conditions (around 25°C). Free practice: P4 for Lynn and P6 for Gasly less than five-tenths off the fastest lap (Vandoorne). Qualifying: P7 for the Frenchman and P9 for the Englishman (pole for Vandoorne). Each driver had problems finding a clear lap. Main race: Gasly made a good start on hard tyres and he exited La Source in third place, but a collision with Nato dropped him back to tenth. Lynn, also on hard tyres, made an average start although he managed to avoid getting caught up in race incidents. Then came Daniel De Jong's huge shunt after tagging Gasly on lap 4. The safety car was deployed and the race was red-flagged on lap 8. Alex put on soft tyres while Pierre stayed on the hard rubber for the restart. The Frenchman held on to fifth place until three laps from the finish when he had to come in and change tyres. He saw the flag in 14th spot two places behind his team-mate. A raft of penalties was handed out after the race and Gasly was sanctioned for the accident with De Jong. He ended up in 19th place and Alex was finally classified eleventh. Sprint race: it was rather less chaotic than the previous one and Lynn put on a good performance pulling back a few positions. Unfortunately, he was bottled up for a long time behind Canamasas and he took the flag in eighth place when a finish in the top 5 looked on the cards. Gasly was handicapped by badly worn tyres which had been used the previous day and retired at half distance. François Sicard, Managing Director : "The overall result doesn't look very good at first glance. But it's deceptive. Pierre, Alex and the cars were quick all weekend. The circumstances in the first race led to our downfall, in particular the safety car and the red flag. It was just what we didn't need given our aggressive strategy. That's motor racing. So we're feeling pretty confident for Monza where we'll be fighting to make up the places lost this weekend." Pierre Gasly: "First of all I'd like to wish Daniel De Jong a speedy recovery. At the time of the accident I didn't see him and I didn't think for a moment that he'd try and pass me on that part of the circuit. Otherwise it's a weekend to forget. The car was good enough for one of the two front rows with a smidgen of luck. On Saturday I made a good start until the collision with Nato, which sliced one of my tyres. It all went wrong at Spa, but I'm going to aiming for the top 3 at Monza." Alex Lynn: "It really wasn't our weekend. I wasn't able to make the most of the speed of my car in qualifying and my races suffered as a result. I just lacked that little extra to be able to overtake easily and I wasn't able to score points on Saturday. It was the same story on Sunday, but at least I managed to finish in the first eight, which is pretty frustrating given our overall level of performance. With a good qualifying session and clean races at Monza we should be in the mix for victory." Spa -Francorchamps in figures Pierre Gasly : P19-Retired Alex Lynn : P11-8 Classification drivers' championship 1. S. Vandoorne, 233 points ; 2. A. Rossi, 128 ; 3. R. Haryanto, 109... 5. A. Lynn, 86 ; 6. P. Gasly, 61. Classification teams' championship 1. ART, 281 points ; 2. Racing Engineering, 170; 3. Campos Racing, 148 ; 4. DAMS, 147. Next round: Monza (Italy), 5-6 September.
