POINTS JUST OUT OF REACH FOR DAMS IN GP3 AT SILVERSTONE
DAMS just missed out on points in the GP3 Series Sprint Race at Silverstone, as American driver Santino Ferrucci battled to ninth from the back row of the grid this weekend (13-16 July).
After retiring in the Feature Race, Haas F1 Development Driver Ferrucci sliced his way through the field to cross the line in ninth place on Sunday.
Brazilian Bruno Baptista and Sauber F1 Development Driver Tatiana Calderon both improved throughout the weekend, but were unable to score points.
Free Practice & Qualifying
Looking to bounce back from a tough Austrian weekend, 19-year-old Ferrucci went 10th fastest in practice, but struggled for grip in qualifying and ended the session 16th.
After only completing a few laps in practice, Baptista qualified 18th at the 5.891km circuit, increasing his pace throughout the session.
Calderon lapped 18th quickest in practice, before going 19th in qualifying as the 24-year-old Colombian also endured a lack of grip.
Santino Ferrucci: “We struggled with the car bottoming in practice and this put us on the back foot for qualifying. We had some issues on the hard tyre and it didn’t help our pace.”
Bruno Baptista: “We had a problem with the brakes in practice, so I could only do a few fast laps. This put me out of rhythm for qualifying and I was disappointed with the result.”
Tatiana Calderon: “I suffered from a lack of grip in both practice and qualifying to be honest and we found it difficult to get a set-up I was comfortable with. We are usually better in the races though so I remained positive.”
Feature & Sprint Races
Ferrucci retired in the Feature Race, but quickly picked off his rivals ahead to cross the line in ninth place in the sprint.
20-year-old Baptista improved to 12th at the chequered flag in Saturday’s race, but was handed a 20-second time penalty for not slowing under the virtual safety car and was classified 15th. The GP3 rookie ended the weekend with 14th on Sunday.
Calderon continued to struggle for grip in the Feature Race, but improved towards the end to finish 14th. Another difficult Sprint Race saw her finish in 15th.
Santino Ferrucci: “In the first race I had to retire the car, but to go from 18th to ninth in the Sprint Race was great and I can’t thank the team enough for not giving up this weekend.”
Bruno Baptista: “The Feature Race went quite well and we showed good pace, particularly towards the end, but the penalty dropped us backwards for the Sprint and I wasn’t able to move forward again.”
Tatiana Calderon: “I struggled with the car in both races. The results were disappointing, but hopefully we can improve in Budapest.”
François Sicard, Managing Director: “This wasn’t the weekend we expected, especially after showing positive signs in Austria. We started on the wrong foot with all three cars and found it tough to improve. In the final race it was great to see Santino battle through to ninth and it shows that we’re heading in the right direction. In a Budapest test earlier this year we showed great pace, so we are confident of improving on this result.”
Round four of the 2017 GP3 Series will take place at the Hungaroring, Hungary (28-30 July).
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