The Bahrain Grand Prix was an eventful race weekend. How do you look back on it?
It really was eventful, I thought the race was over before we even started, but we were lucky to get the car going. Itâs always important to maximise the âbad daysâ and get the most out of them and in the end it was a very positive race recovery with some good points scored for the Team. I think it was also very important to drive those kilometres and complete the race distance in order to get up to speed quickly with the car, the Team and all of the processes.
What was going through your head on the formation lap when the car stopped on track?
I had no clue what was going on but I stayed calm. Everything just shut down, the radio, the telemetry, everything was fully off and for a moment I couldnât do anything. I was about to get out of the car and then that second, we managed to turn the car back on. In the end I think we were very lucky I stayed in the car and we managed to get going again, even though we had to start the race from the pit lane.
Our car qualified on pole, but we lost out to Mercedes in the race. Just how close is the fight with them?
I think itâs going to be very tight with Mercedes and weâre going to see if the fight is circuit related. It will be interesting to see how we are in Imola, on a very different track to Bahrain, and see how we compare against them.
What did you learn about the Team, about Max, about the car over the course of the race weekend?
I learned a lot. I learned more about Maxâs driving style and how the car has to be driven to extract the maximum from it. I think that was the biggest learning, I know what balance I need from the car throughout the weekend.
What are your expectations heading to Imola and what will be important in ensuring we have a good weekend?
My goal is to have a good race and Iâm looking forward to the weekend. Hopefully in Imola we can come back and be in contention to fight for a podium and hopefully the win. Unlike Bahrain, qualifying is very important at Imola as you can hardly overtake there but I like it.
