Di Resta: Silverstone tough to beat
Wednesday 20th July 2011
Paul di Resta believes Germany's Formula One fans will struggle to recreate the atmosphere generated at Silverstone.
A grand total of 315,000 spectators attended over the three days of the British Grand Prix, with 122,000 on race day, 105,000 for qualifying on Saturday and a remarkable 88,000 for Friday practice.
And although the German Grand Prix is another highly-popular race, Di Resta doubts it can match the delights of his first home grand prix 10 days ago.
"I know the German fans will be out in force with six German drivers to support," said Di Resta.
"But they will have to work hard to match the atmosphere we had at Silverstone, which was very special."
Sadly for the 25-year- old the race turned on the back of one poor pit stop, with the Force India driver having qualified sixth and been in the points up until halfway.
With the Force India pit crew expecting team-mate Adrian Sutil, the delay thrust Di Resta back into the pack where he soon had a shunt with Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi.
Another pit stop for a new front wing was swiftly needed from which there was no recovery back into the points, with the Scot finishing 15th.
Team owner Vijay Mallya knows far more should have been achieved this season, which reaches the midway point this weekend.
"What is clear is we have an excellent driver line-up and a car that is improving race by race which gives us cause to be optimistic about the second half of the year," said Mallya.
"Looking back on Silverstone we have to view it as a missed opportunity. With confusion on the pit wall, we failed to convert our excellent qualifying performance into points, which is incredibly frustrating.
"These things happen in racing, but we have put measures in place to ensure such a situation cannot happen again.
"Although Silverstone became a race of unrealised potential, we can take a lot of positives from our performance.
"Over the last few races we have demonstrated the competitiveness of the car continues to improve and we are capable of qualifying consistently in the top 10.
"What is important now is to deliver that performance in the races where it matters most of all."
Di Resta, who has failed to score a point in the last seven races, also knows it is vital he remains upbeat.
"I think we should be quite positive going into the race," said Di Resta.
"After strong qualifying performances in Valencia and Silverstone, we'll be working hard to try and get a race result that reflects our pace."
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment