Q&A with Paul di Resta

Force India tried an unusual strategy in Spain, sacrificing performance in qualifying while focussing on the race. In Q2 both Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil in effect opted out of the battle for position by running the hard tyre, thus saving two new sets of soft tyres apiece for Sunday. Paul Di Resta ran a three-stop strategy, using three sets of softs, before finishing on the hards. He finished 12th, just ahead of team mate Adrian Sutil, who tried the reverse by starting on the hards and then running softs to the flag. We asked Paul for his thoughts on Barcelona and next weekend’s race in Monaco.

You tried something different with strategy in Spain. Do you feel that it was the right decision?

“We moved forward, so relative to what our performance was over the weekend, we did the right thing. So I’m very happy with that. The team did a great job with strategy, but we just weren’t quick enough, and you have to be realistic about your targets.”

How did things go from the start?

“I made a good start. We were able to extend the first, second and third stints due to the option tyres lasting longer than predicted – our degradation wasn’t quite as high. The only problem was we got stuck behind the Toro Rossos, and probably lost 6 to 7 seconds in each of the first three stints. Add that onto your overall race time, and it’s quite good.”

Adrian used hards at the start, while you used them at the end. The result suggests that it was fairly close!

“It looks very equal, the way the strategies were. That’s what happens this year with the tyres. For me, stints two and three were new options, and stint four was a new set of primes.”

And that was the optimum strategy for you?

“We don’t know, because we didn’t try anything else! That was our optimum on paper, and that’s what our programmes were saying.”

There didn’t seem to be much DRS passing at the front. Were you able to use it?

“Yes, I did quite a lot of passing. I got Nick Heidfeld at one point, Alguersuari twice, Buemi and Maldonado. But I was a good bit quicker at those points. I think if you were just a little bit quicker, you wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

Was it a little frustrating that with the harder tyres you couldn’t gain any ground in the last stint?

“There was nothing else I could do, I was just managing the tyres. But nobody passed me in the last stint, we stayed where we were.”

Monaco is next. You didn’t drive in practice last year, but you know your way around…

“Yes, I did one race there in F3 in 2005, so it was a long time ago. I live there as well, so it’s home! I’m in the car in both sessions on Thursday. Hopefully we’ll have the new upgrade to try again, and we’ll see where we are. The key at Monaco is track time, and hopefully we’ll get plenty of it.”

Any idea if the car will be more or less suited to the track compared with elsewhere?

“We won’t know until we get there and get a good feel for it. It depends on the mechanical set-up versus the aerodynamics.”

You mentioned the new package. Are you confident that it will be a big step once it’s sorted?

“There’s definitely potential, we can see that in the numbers. But we just need to analyse everything to get the full overall baseline right.”