Glock’s aggressive driving holding him back?
The Canadian Grand Prix saw another finish for Lucas di Grassi, but this weekend he finds himself in new surroundings as the Formula One bandwagon rolls into Valencia for the European Grand Prix.
It was Di Grassi’s fourth finish of the year, which is two more than his more experienced team mate Timo Glock who failed to reach the chequered flag again in Canada.
Glock had to retire due to a brake problem and even Di Grassi experienced reliability problems as he only had fourth gear for the final six laps.
But despite him only finishing twice, Glock has been quicker at each qualifying session and has quicker race speed than the young Brazilian. Then the question arises, why does he not complete more races?
Maybe his more aggressive racing style, which he displayed last season with Toyota, may not be as suitable for his less developed Virgin car.
Or it may just be that Di Grassi, who drives more cautiously, can look after his car better, just at the expense of a decent race pace.
Either way, this weekend will be another test for both drivers as Virgin Racing make their debut in Valencia.
It is one of the tighter circuits on the F1 calendar and even more this year as there will be four extra cars on the grid; overtaking will prove to be very difficult.
It is a seaside street course which has several high speed sections and many corners which could see high demands on brakes and tyres. Also this year’s European Grand Prix takes place in June, rather than late August which has been the case over the last two years.
Tyre manufacture Bridgestone have assured the teams that this should have no affect on tyre wear and the problem that arose in Montreal will not be present this weekend. Therefore many teams will be running a one stop strategy, which will make it even harder to overtake.
In Canada, the Virgin boys all together made eight pit stops, so a one stop race will be very much welcomed by the drivers and pit crew.
They are hoping that it will only be one stop, but with the recent hydraulic problems it may be more. Their aim is still to just get both cars to the chequered flag and hope they have finished ahead of the other new teams.
On a street circuit, which is difficult to overtake on, the best way to finish ahead of your rivals is to out qualify them. So Saturday could be crucial for Virgin, but since they have failed to out qualify the Lotus team this season, it could be another long Sunday for the rookie team.
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