Paul Di Resta reviews the 2013 season

Paul Di Resta enjoyed a strong third season with Sahara Force India in 2013, regularly scoring points and ultimately finishing 12th in the World Championship. Some of the highlights of his season include running in the top three in Bahrain, and setting the fifth fastest time in qualifying for his home race at Silverstone.

On paper, 2013 looked like a season of three parts – with good result at the beginning and the end and some frustration in the middle. Paul offers some unique perspective on how his year developed from Melbourne to Interlagos, through the all-important change in tyre build in the middle of the season.

“Looking at the results tells the story of how our season’s been as a team since Silverstone. We were hampered by the tyre change, but when you look at how we came back and got our performance back on track, there are plenty of encouraging aspects to look at” says the Bathgate ace.

“There was a point there where we were wondering whether we could salvage our season, but we stuck together and we did it. This is a huge credit to everyone within the team. I think every single person kept the faith, even when we were struggling: we were rewarded - it’s been a joy to actually drive the last few races and actually feel the car being back on song. Finishing sixth in Abu Dhabi, back where we belonged after a few disappointing events, we were probably happier than the race winners.”

The Pirelli tyres were without any doubt one of the main protagonists of 2013 – their early season behaviour rewarding teams like Sahara Force India, who had worked hard to understand the behaviour of the new tyres over the winter.

“The work for 2013 actually started on Friday practice in Brazil last year, when we got the new tyres to test", recalls Paul. "The approach we took was quite clever and this paid off handsomely in the first few races, and paradoxically hampered us when the tyres were suddenly changed after Silverstone. By that stage the team had to focus all its development on next year’s car to be ready for the big rule changes."

Despite the trouble caused by the mid-season change of tyres, the team enjoyed some exciting races. One of the team’s biggest strengths, in 2013, was the ability to be flexible when planning strategies, which resulted in some bold choices. The combination of a well-designed car, aggressive strategies and tyres being used to their best allowed our drivers to often be in a position to battle the leaders.

“Sometimes we were racing the guys that qualified on pole. In Barcelona, I suffered some DRS problems when I was in a battle for sixth position against Rosberg: that was the car that was on pole! It shows how strong we were in those races that we could fight with anyone on track.

“We had outstanding results both in qualifying and in races. To qualify fifth in Silverstone, probably one of the hardest tracks on the calendar, was a highlight – especially as it was the home race for me and it’s our local track. Some of the race strategies stand out; probably Canada was the most brilliant example of what we could do. We had a difficult qualifying, started at the back and did a one-stop race to seventh place. It was just crazy. Overall, there were highs and lows throughout our season, but it was enjoyable and the vibe around the team was very good.”

For Paul in particular, the Bahrain Grand Prix will represent a high point of the 2013 season. A brilliant drive saw the Scot haul his VJM06 into podium contention, running as high as second before eventually crossing the line in fourth position.

“We had a great result in Sakhir in 2012 and we knew the combination of track and weather would suit our car. Right from FP1 we were in the top five and we eventually qualified sixth. I passed a Ferrari and a Mercedes in the first stint and we only lost out to the Lotuses in the end – a race-winning car. It’s different when you’re racing up front: even though we were aiming for the podium, I think we came away from Bahrain extremely happy. More importantly, we had consistency and we scored points all the way up to Silverstone. That really shows how far our team has come!”