Q: P4
PBed with a 22.1. Surprised it was only good enough for P4. You're all too fast.
R1: P5
Excellent launch, but the narrow nature of this circuit prevented me from doing too much into T1. Managed to sneak by Arytom by taking the outside into T1 thus giving me better positioning for T2. A spin from Peter put me up into second for a few laps, though inevitably he recovered and managed to retake the position with a few laps remaining. On the final lap my eyes were on stalks trying to find absolutely everything in an attempt to make something happen. I threw the car at the second chicane a little too soon, grabbed the anti-cut and well... ended up on the wall
Wehrlein-style.
No podium for me then...
R2: P2
Another very good start, a few positions gained off the start and the resulting
chaos at the final chicane put me right on the back of Vlad who was leading. His car was strong enough on corner exit and trimmed just enough to prevent me from doing anything even with DRS. I could see that the pressure was working somewhat, lots of tire marks and smoke being kicked up was a very welcome sight. I did finally manage to nail a move into the final chicane, however David was now already on us and I knew it wouldn't be long before he dealt with Vlad as well.
I did what I could to hold on, but David was just in the groove. I extended my first stint to the end of lap 21/22 since my lap-times still looked fine and I wasn't feeling any significant handling deterioration. I marginally exited the pits behind Vlad, but this time there was a clear grip difference and it didn't take much time to pass and comfortably start chasing down David.
I tried, I really really tried. The gap was coming down but not fast enough, then it just stabilized at around nine seconds. I turned my attention to the fastest lap which David had annoyingly stolen by half a tenth, however I kept doing 23.3s all the while finding time in sector 3 so nothing doing.
It was nice to be back. Canada always impresses and I'm glad I didn't miss it. I'm not certain if I'll make Istanbul yet, I guess we'll see!