Paul di Resta's outbursts causing a hindrance

On his way to stardom?

“We had a bit of an issue with the gearbox settings being incorrect before qualifying,” said di Resta when asked about what happened by AUTOSPORT.

“It was key to be on the track at the right time and though we probably did not have to change it, it was changed. The big thing is why it was wrong to begin with? The question is why did we try to fix it and not just go out because it was not going to make a difference?”

“Probably what threw us was that our performance on inters at the beginning was very successful, We were well within the top three, better than we imagined, and maybe we felt a bit too comfortable.”

“We obviously hit it wrong, We’ve got it wrong on the pit wall, I think. We should have continued the lap we were on at the beginning. We chose to abort and unfortunately on the out-lap it started raining.” he added.

“I had so much respect and he was my hero and all the rest, and eventually I got to race against him. Now, though, I feel a bit different about Michael. I’m quite glad he’s retired and he’s out of the way, because he’s a bit of a pain in the ass on the track.”

During the recent qualifying session at the Belgium Grand Prix, the Scot straight away claimed that it was his decision to start on intermediate tyres in Q3.

“Fifth place on the grid is a great result. At the start of Q3 I knew that I wanted to go straight out on the intermediates. It was a brave decision and the team let me go ahead with it, while the others chose dry tyres. I knew it was our best chance to get up towards the front of the grid and it paid off.”

“With Paul we judged this pretty much to perfection and for a while we were looking good for a front row start. But the rain eased up and he dropped down to fifth, which is still an excellent result.” said Vijay Mallya.

You could still argue that Paul di Resta’s comments were due to the poor streak of bad qualifying results, most of them was down to the mistake of his team. In a scenario like that, most of the drivers would end up frustrated. But when someone like Luca di Montezemolo, who prefers the drivers to put the team beyond anything else, would he be impressed with Paul di Resta’s attitude off the track?

Paul di Resta is still young, and has a long way to go in Formula 1. He might be the champion elsewhere, but Formula 1 is a different bed for him. For him to succeed here, he needs to learn and deliver on the track. He needs to learn from his rivals, and needs to understand what the top teams yearn in a driver’s attributes, especially when he states that he has built up a reputation.

“I’ve built my reputation in Formula One. I want to be in a winning seat, but it’s people’s board’s decisions.

But we hope that he understands ‘Too much of anything is bad’.