Di Resta admits it was a shame not to finish the race

Paul di Resta reflected on a somewhat impressive first weekend in an F1 car since 2013. Di Resta had a lot to learn after a prolonged absence in F1, having only ever driven the newer more tricky to handle cars in simulators until qualifying.

He had also not been used to driving anything anywhere close the levels of the downforce of an F1 car since his last race, after having mainly driving DTM cars and doing punditry for Sky since his last F1 race.

He had an impressive race, considering his lack of recent experience in single seaters, holding his own against the Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein for the majority of the race. However he didn’t have much of an answer to teammate, Lance Stroll, and did fade towards the end, owing to a lack of true race fitness, before finally having to retire the car on lap 63.

He said after the race: "I've got a sore shoulder but that's about it. That's to be expected after your first time in a car. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought...maybe I should have driven a bit faster. I just wanted to make sure I got through the first lap and used every moment I had in that car to my best. We were slightly unfortunate before the pit stop that I got lapped.

"It very much comes down to being around 19 different guys all fighting for the same bit of road, I didn't know what to expect. I haven't driven a car with that much downforce for such a long time that you get that much wake off it so you find yourself locking wheels. I didn't want to get too caught up with that.”

He then reflected on his disappointment in not finishing the race saying: "I'd have much rather got to the end of the race but we had a small oil leak and as it was a fresh engine for the weekend they didn't want to be taking up engine penalties just because of that."

Sam Gale