08 Jul 2012

Paul Di Resta: “You certainly need to be there at the end”

Paul Di Resta just missed out on making Q3 at Silverstone when he finished a dramatic rain interrupted Q2 session in 11^th place. However he will start from 10^th at the expense of Sahara Force India team mate Nico Hülkenberg, who has a five place gearbox change penalty. Paul’s set-up was not optimised for the very wet conditions, so if it is a little drier on Sunday, he could benefit.

How would you sum your qualifying session?
“We’re not in a bad position. I think we just got caught out with the weather, we were stuck in a window where we couldn’t really balance the car with what we wanted to do. We gambled more on it being a showery qualifying session, but more likely to be dry. That wasn’t forecast, what came through, not that intensity. You never thought it would be a show-stopper. I’m crossing my fingers for dry tomorrow, certainly for most of the race.”

Does that mean you are concerned if it’s as wet as it was today?
“I think it will be different on higher fuel. All I’m saying is we didn’t give ourselves the best chance for an extremely wet qualifying, but we narrowly missed Q3 – we were very close to getting through. I think as well we were more competitive when it was inters than extremes. If we would have been further up, I don’t know. But different things can happen, and I’m not disappointed with where I’m starting tomorrow. I suppose it’s just going to be the luck of the draw whether you’ve made the right choice or not. It’s a long race where a lot of different things can happen and a lot of things can go your way. You certainly need to be there at the end and being there at the end is going to be mighty tough if the weather’s changeable. We’re seeing these difficult conditions, there’s a lot of aquaplaning, there’s a lot of things that are affected. A lot of cars up and down the pit lane took different approaches.”

Have conditions been unusually difficult compared to other tracks in the rain?
“There are  rivers running across the track, but if you look at any single event that’s happening in the UK at the moment, whether it’s a music festival or a Grand Prix or a sporting event, everything has been affected.”

Have you enjoyed your home race so far?
“What I’ve not enjoyed is not being able to get out and really enjoy it. Everyone’s been tucked away and it’s been a bit low-key. The one thing you’ve got to say is that how committed British fans are to motor racing. They’ve been coming early and parking and walking miles and miles. I’ve never been to a Grand Prix where you hear the sound of the fans chanting over the noise in the background. Entertaining the crowds is what we’re here to do, hopefully they don’t feel too robbed of a great event. What they need for this weekend is to see a great race and just see cars do what they should do. If it’s mixed conditions it’s just going to make it difficult.”

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