70TH ANNIVERSARY GP
HIGHLIGHTS AND FACTS
• Pole position in qualifying
• Fifth consecutive top-three qualifying result
• Dominant Feature Race performance to take victory
• Solid P6 finish in Sprint Race
• Callum vaults to top of championship and now leads by 19 points
CALLUM'S WEEKEND REVIEW
As weekend’s go, it couldn’t really have gone any better than that. Qualifying was amazing once again, to take pole position at your home circuit is a surreal feeling and gave us the best possible chance for a good result on Saturday.The start on Saturday was really good, I got a clean getaway and managed to start bridging a gap to the cars behind almost immediately. The tyres held up a lot better than I thought they would, I could just keep extracting performance out of them and they never really kicked up a fuss. The key was to be smooth and consistent and, with where our pit box is at this track, we had to extend the first stint by an extra lap so we didn’t lose position in the pit-lane. That actually worked out really well as I rejoined from my stop ten seconds ahead of Lundgaard. From there it was again just keeping the tyres under control, not taking any unnecessary risks and biding my time when working my way through the other cars.
To get another win, at home and by eight seconds was the best result we could possibly hope for and the only way to recover from last weekend. It felt amazing to stand on the top step of the podium and we also managed to take back the lead of the championship for good measure.
Starting eighth for the Sprint Race, we felt we had another good shot at the points. It was a much cooler race, the track was nowhere near as hot as Saturday and the wind direction made overtaking more difficult, all of which changed the race a little bit. This time it was just about keeping our nose clean and taking the opportunities given to us. The start wasn't ideal but by no means, a disaster and I made a small error on the first lap so had a bit to recover.
Further ahead, a few of the others began to suffer really badly with their tyres so I would have liked to make more progress than I did but it was good to bank the extra points. To finish sixth was still a good, solid result and more points on the board.
Walking away from the weekend with another win and the championship lead is fantastic. The team was brilliant all weekend and, as always, I’m hugely grateful for all the hard work they put in to get us these results. Now we’ll focus on Barcelona next weekend and make sure we bring the same performance there as well.