Scot frustrated at Spa
Last Updated: August 29, 2011 2:12pm
Paul di Resta: Back to the drawing board
Paul di Resta heads to Italy in search of better luck after suffering his latest dose of frustration in the Belgian Grand Prix.
After finishing a career-high seventh in Hungary before the summer break, ending a run of eight races without a point, the belief was Di Resta had turned a corner in his debut campaign with Force India.
But it is a case of back to the drawing board for the Scot after a bitterly disappointing weekend in Belgium that promised so much.
Initially, a spin and a poor call from the pit wall in qualifying contributed to Di Resta starting a season-low 18th on the grid.
Even from that position there remained hope of a top-10 place, but a shunt from behind from Virgin's Timo Glock at the first corner La Source hairpin caused damage to his car to such an extent it is a wonder he finished 11th, agonisingly again just outside the points.
Vulnerable
"I don't know where Timo was trying to brake," Di Resta said.
"He hit my car hard, which bent the rear suspension, took a massive hole out of the floor, sidepod and most of the front wing.
"I don't know how the main plane and flap stayed on, but we kind of dealt with it and we didn't run too bad.
"At least Timo stuck his hand up and apologised, which if you make a mistake you have to admit to.
"But then when (Nick) Heidfeld did that to me a couple of races ago he didn't apologise, so it's good Timo did, but it didn't help my situation or make up for anything.
"What happened, though, reflects on the errors made in qualifying. It puts you in a position where you are vulnerable to things like that."
Further bad luck then occurred with Lewis Hamilton's accident on lap 13, with Di Resta adding: "I was due to come into the pits when that happened.
"When there is a safety car the lead car in the team (Adrian Sutil on this occasion) takes priority, so I was doubly screwed.
"I had to stay out another lap which meant both Williams jumped me, and I was stuck behind them.
"There obviously wasn't much performance because most of the car was damaged.
"But when you think how much of the car was missing, and I only finished 20 seconds behind Adrian, relative to that I can be quite satisfied.
"But it's frustrating how it all came about."
Di Resta knows he now has no option but to raise his spirits ahead of the next race at Monza, which in the past has favoured the team.
"We have been excellent, relatively strong, but the philosophy of the car has since changed," said Di Resta.
"Despite that we can be fairly optimistic that at Monza we should be able to score some good points."
Credit: Sky Sports (www.skysports.com)
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