F!: Di Resta eyeing an upturn after more woe in Germany

By JIM McGILL
Published on 23/07/2012 12:06

Bathgate’s Paul di 
Resta heads to Budapest for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix hoping his current run of bad luck is at an end.

The 26-year-old Scot, whose British Grand Prix at Silverstone a fortnight ago ended after just four corners, again struggled for pace in yesterday’s German Grand Prix.

“We just didn’t have the pace – it’s as simple as that,” admitted Di Resta, who started ninth but had to battle to finish a frustrating 11th, one place outside the points.

“We struggled to match the pace of our main rivals Lotus and Sauber, but hopefully we’ll have everything in place to be more competitive this weekend.

“Probably the deciding factor on our performance at Hockenheim was deciding whether to stop two or three times.

“The team split the strategy, and we went with two stops. With hindsight we probably could have been more aggressive and opted for a three-
stopper.

“But it was hard to understand the tyres and we seemed to struggle for pace in the middle of each stint.

“Now though we head straight to the Hungaroring for the Hungary Grand Prix on Sunday. And we go there determined to overtake Williams for seventh in the Constructors’ Championship.

“We’re only one point behind them and if we can maximise the inherent baseline speed of the car, and we can find the sweet spot, we can score more world championship points.”

The race was won by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who dominated the 67-lap race from pole position.

The Spaniard’s third win of the year means he heads to Hungary with a commanding 34-point lead in the title race.

Starting from pole, Alonso fended off the initial assault by Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull and though he never established a major lead, the Ferrari ace managed to control the race.

Vettel, overtaken by Jenson Button’s McLaren during the final round of pitstops, controversially overtook the Englishman on the penultimate lap to retake second.

The German ran wide as he completed the move, putting all four wheels of his Red Bull off the track. Stewards investigated the incident after the race, eventually slapping a 20-second penalty on the Red Bull driver’s time.

That relegated Vettel to fifth, and promoted Button to 
second, with the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen moved up to third.

Afterwards, Alonso admitted he believed he won the race despite not having the fastest car.

“It was tough, definitely,” said the double world champion, who sits ahead of nearest rival Mark Webber, who finished eighth at Hockenheim, in the championship.

“It was not an easy race; maybe we were not the quickest in the dry. But we were quite competitive, enough to keep the lead. There were also some good calls by the team in terms of strategy. When Jenson pitted we had to react.

“After that I knew it was a long race, 27 laps to the end with Jenson putting on a lot of pressure.

“The car was feeling good on traction and top speed, so it was enough to keep the lead into Turn 6. After that you can’t pass so it was about controlling the tyres.”