Di Resta wows F1 superstars on debut testing session

Apr 1 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

PAUL DI RESTA left some of motorsport’s biggest names trailing in his wake last weekend when he drove his first F1 practice session.

The Bathgate Bullet steered home the Force India supercar to a superb l1th fastest time in the weekend’s opening practice session in Melbourne, despite driving on a track he’d never seen before and being behind the wheel of a car he had no dry-track experience in.

His quicksilver time meant he finished one place above legendary driver Michael Schumacher and signalled the West Lothian wonder’s arrival as a major contender on the F1 scene.

But di Resta, who is test and reserve driver for F1 new boys Force India this season, was more concerned with keeping pace with team-mate Adrian Sutil and continuing his learning curve.

“It was a pretty good feeling to go out against some big names but we didn’t go into the session even thinking about looking at the time sheets,” insisted di Resta.

“I was pretty close to my team-mate, so given what we achieved there, I think we have to be happy with it, and, hopefully, it’s a good foundation to build on for the races coming up.”

At Melbourne’s Albert Park, he ran 25 laps and bagged the 11th best time, which was just 0.3secs off predecessor Tonio Liuzzi’s best and a tremendous result on one of the sports trickiest drives and the 23-year-old admits he felt a few pangs of apprehension before taking to the track.

He revealed: “I was pretty nervous going into the session, after all Albert Park is one of the most difficult tracks on the calendar.

“It’s half street, half track, so I had to build the programme from the bottom to the top. I had to feel comfortable in the car, particularly as I’ve not had the chance to drive it in the dry after the wet testing we had over the winter.

“It was something new and once the track rubbered in, I was able to push myself beyond my comfortable limits.

“In Melbourne, there’s not much margin for error and therefore I had to be careful in some sectors, as the walls get pretty close here.

“But the main job was to get the mileage and learn the track but, most importantly, to try and build a base for the drivers in the race with the optimum set-up.

“It was always going to be quite challenging as I’ve not driven this car in the dry.

“When I did the superlicence (mileage), it was quite wet at Jerez. So the first impression of the car is always good, but also Melbourne is also not the easiest track to go out for your first attempt as there’s not much room for error.

“The basic approach was to start at the bottom and work my way up, and the last lap was the fastest lap. It was quite a short run in the end. I think if I could have had a couple more laps, I would have been a bit better again.

“But the session had quite a few red flags, and it interrupted some of the programme. But, equally, we were at least able to have a second run and start making some changes, start the development work for this weekend and go forward with the race car for the guys to take over.”

The West Lothian wonder was always destined for a place in the F1 paddock.

After all, he has raced against and beaten some of the current top stars of the sport.

He pipped 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton to a cadet karting title and later beat Sebastian Vettel to the European F3 championship.

So F1 holds no fears for di Vesta, who is combining his Force India duties with his role in DTM and insists he has no problems switching between the two very different cars.

“I wouldn’t say it takes much to adapt, it’s, just as I said, finding the new tracks, and finding where you need to be quick and where the time’s gained,” he explained.

“And also just finding the limits. The other thing is how much the track improves over the first session. It’s just getting used to it.

“For sure, it’s going to be a bit different, there’s a lot more you can do as a driver to get your preferences with the diffs and the various different torque maps.

“I was just running through everything, trying to learn as much as possible, and equally trying to help the team and be sensible and go forward with their development.”

Di Resta admits it won’t be easy to keep pace with the F1 regulars with just one 90 minute session once every two weeks.

He added: “I certainly don’t take anything for granted in this business. It’s difficult, and I know it’s going to be a tough challenge.

“What I’m doing is going to be even harder. You’re coming into the weekend, you’re only driving in one session, and you need to make the best of that.

“Equally everybody’s getting to drive a lot more, so they’re going to be up to speed a lot quicker.

“We have our goals and we have our sights set on what we want to achieve from it, and that’s the way I’m looking at it.

“I just want to take every lap, go about it as best as I can, try and improve one by one, and try and gain experience to go forward.

“I almost want to go back out today, because I know getting out of the car and having lunch and sitting thinking about it a bit more gives you more lap time, and it becomes more natural when you jump back in it.

“It was a new track, a new car, and a new system to me, so there were quite a number of things I had to learn.

“I know for every track it’s going to be a new circuit to learn, but in terms of the systems it should be relatively quite similar. Hopefully it’ll get easier the more it goes on.”