It was another difficult day for PREMA Racing at Silverstone.
A tough race one saw bad starting spots for both drivers, while a safety-car situation and a tight strategy call compromised the results further.
Robert Shwartzman, who started 14th, quickly gained positions as he fought his way through the pack and seemed set to secure a points finish. Unfortunately, a safety-car led to a difficult strategic decision. The high tyre degradation at Silverstone meant many drivers and teams opted for a change, and pit road issues pushed both down the order. The Russian eventually finished 13th, keeping the series lead with his closest competitor also not finishing.
Shwartzman said: “It has been a very tough and bad weekend. We didn’t score any points, which is really bad for the championship. We improved the car a bit for today’s race, and it felt better than yesterday. I had an okay start, making up some positions, and later I gained one more spot up to P10. Then I started to lose the tyres again, but that was normal as I was always in dirty air. Generally, it wasn’t really going bad. Then the safety car came out, and we did not choose the right strategy, which probably cost us a few points which would have been better than nothing. We need to forget this weekend in terms of results while learning from our mistakes. I hope we will find more pace, more luck, and a better strategy.”
Mick Schumacher also looked set to take a points finish until the safety car came out. The German finished just one space behind his teammate in 14th.
Schumacher said: “We gained two positions in the first lap and therefore I was quite confident that we would be able to score a point or two. We tried our best to keep the tyres alive as long as possible and even changed strategy during the safety car, taking full risk and pitting for option tyres with just a couple of laps to go. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be today. Now it’s time to get over this weekend quickly and do better next at the same place.”
The team will remain in Silverstone for round five, which will start in a few days.
Image Credits: (C) Formula Motorsport Limited
