Home is where the hurt is for di Resta

Jul 14 2011 West Lothian Courier

PAUL DI RESTA could not hide his anger after a pit-stop clanger ruined his chances of a points finish on his British Grand Prix debut.

The Bathgate Bullet had steered home to a career-best sixth on the grid in qualifying for his home grand prix and was comfortably in seventh place when he pitted.

But a communication mix-up between the pit crew and the team on the pit wall meant that, when Paul stopped outside his garage, the crew had the tyres which were due to be fitted to the car of his team-mate Adrian Sutil.

The delay cost the rookie driver 25 seconds and ruined his chances of scoring the points he looked certain to land at Silverstone.

After Sunday’s race, a visibly angry di Resta struggled to mask his frustration. He said: “It’s extremely disappointing to end my first British Grand Prix in 15th position.

“I had a good first part of the race; we seemed quite competitive and I was able to hold on to Jenson (Button) as I concentrated on looking after my intermediate tyres.

“I think we made the switch to dry tyres at the right moment and we were running well. Then I got a call to come into the pits again, but when I got there the team were expecting Adrian, so there was obviously some confusion.

“It cost me quite a lot of time because the boys had to run back in the garage and fetch my tyres. That cost us about 25 seconds, which pretty much ended my chances.

“So it was a frustrating race, but I think we should stay positive because the car has shown well this weekend and that gives me confidence for the rest of the season.”

Force India Team Principal Dr Vijay Mallya admitted the team made a huge error with the tyres.

He confessed: “We called Paul in for his second scheduled stop but, at the same time, Adrian came on the radio reporting a puncture.

“We tried to get Paul to stay out so that we could service Adrian’s car, but it was too late.. That led to some confusion over the tyres being ready for Paul when he arrived at the garage and cost him a great deal of time.

“We need to come back stronger in the German Grand Prix.”

To compound di Resta’s misery, Sebastien Buemi of Scuderia Toro Rosso ran over the Scot’s front wing following the pit mix-up, forcing him to re-enter the pit for a replacement.