UAE driver Andreas Zuber arrived in Turkey fresh from the Monaco Grand Prix where he scored eight points, determined to have another strong weekend for his team, FMSI. "I have always scored points on this track and I like it here," Zuber said.
"I had a really positive feeling for Team FMSI's work and I was really looking forward to the race. The main issue on my mind was to fix the tyre degradation problems after Monaco and I was hoping that the engineers would have found a solution." Andreas progressed during the free practice session at Istanbul and improved consistently during the 30-minute session, finishing fifth. In qualifying Andreas was just as competitive and started Saturday's first race from the third row in sixth place (1.34.922). Andreas drove most of the race in third position, but only finished in tenth position after his front right tyre let him down thirteen laps before the end and he could not fend off the other drivers. Andreas explained, "I am so disappointed with the results. I was hoping for the podium and for a third consecutive race with points and I finish tenth which means that I will start from the middle tomorrow. But at least, I finished the race. I had a good start fighting with Hulkenberg and Grosjean as well as Chandock who stalled at the start and I managed to get up to third by the third lap. The car was good at the start. I was lapping in a good, consistent pace, matching Petrov who had taken the lead. In warm conditions the secret was to know how to nurse the tires that were not holding so well." Lucas Di Grassi made the first pit stop on lap six, followed by Diego Nunes, but as part of the FMSI team strategy, Andreas waited a bit longer, but in retrospect perhaps not long enough. Nico Huelkenberg pitted on lap 14, a lap before Andreas He rejoined the race just before the safety car was deployed after Parente stopped at turn 8 and all other drivers went in for their tyre change. Petrov resumed the lead ahead of Filippi and Andreas in third. Andreas
explains: "Valsecchi was close behind me pushing. On lap 24, I was not able to control him anymore and we had ten laps of the race ahead of us. Then again Valerio and Hulkenberg were pushing and I let them through with two laps to go. With one lap to go I was in eighth place. Then it went all wrong when I had no more grip from the right front tyre and I was luckily to maintain tenth place." Overall, it was a lively, action-packed race with 11 drivers, almost half of the field retiring, so Andreas is proud to have made it to the finish. |
