Personally, the 'Indy' layout of the Brands Hatch circuit -- barely two kilometres long and just over 40 seconds to complete a lap -- is a bit too small for DTM cars. Passing manoeuvres are quite complicated if not impossible and the time gaps are really tight. Moreover, there is little clearance on the side of the track, making exits dangerous.
With a rich motorsport tradition, the British are big racing fans and they show huge interest in DTM races. Of course, it has a lot to do with the presence of many British drivers, like Paul (Di Resta), Jamie (Green), Gary (Paffett) and Susie (Stoddard).
On Friday night, all the Mercedes-Benz drivers had a little surprise in store for Norbert Haug, Vice President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. Brands Hatch was his 250th DTM race and we celebrated the occasion by offering him a beautiful family picture autographed by the entire team. Congratulations, Norbert!
I later went back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. On Saturday morning, it was time to get serious again. We did a few practice laps and extensively worked on the settings for the race. I ran into a few troubles early in the session, losing significant time in the first section. Following a long discussion with my chief engineer, I managed to rectify the situation and post decent lap times. In the end, I was the sixth fastest driver.
The schedule at Brands Hatch is pretty tight. Since there’s a one-hour lag between England and continental Europe, the qualifications and the race are held an hour earlier to accommodate German television, among others. Therefore, we had one less hour to prepare between practice and qualifying as well as between Sunday’s warm-up and race. I barely had time to eat a bite, meet a handful of journalists and relax a little before the main event.
Qualifying nearly turned into a nightmare, as I had to observe a yellow flag during my first time out due to another driver’s exit. My brand-new tires were already compromised and, as a result, I failed to record a satisfying time during my second full lap. I was forced to use a second set of new tires to qualify for Q2. Believe me, it was a close call!
I needed two additional sets of tires in Q2 and another one in Q3, where I posted the fastest time. In Q4, I found myself battling three other drivers for pole position. However, unlike my opponents, I was out of new tires. Unsurprisingly, they all proved faster than me, which meant a fourth-place, second-row start on the grid. Not bad. After all, like I said earlier, passing at Brands Hatch is a real challenge.
With a rich motorsport tradition, the British are big racing fans and they show huge interest in DTM races. Of course, it has a lot to do with the presence of many British drivers, like Paul (Di Resta), Jamie (Green), Gary (Paffett) and Susie (Stoddard).
On Friday night, all the Mercedes-Benz drivers had a little surprise in store for Norbert Haug, Vice President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. Brands Hatch was his 250th DTM race and we celebrated the occasion by offering him a beautiful family picture autographed by the entire team. Congratulations, Norbert!
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I later went back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. On Saturday morning, it was time to get serious again. We did a few practice laps and extensively worked on the settings for the race. I ran into a few troubles early in the session, losing significant time in the first section. Following a long discussion with my chief engineer, I managed to rectify the situation and post decent lap times. In the end, I was the sixth fastest driver.
The schedule at Brands Hatch is pretty tight. Since there’s a one-hour lag between England and continental Europe, the qualifications and the race are held an hour earlier to accommodate German television, among others. Therefore, we had one less hour to prepare between practice and qualifying as well as between Sunday’s warm-up and race. I barely had time to eat a bite, meet a handful of journalists and relax a little before the main event.
Qualifying nearly turned into a nightmare, as I had to observe a yellow flag during my first time out due to another driver’s exit. My brand-new tires were already compromised and, as a result, I failed to record a satisfying time during my second full lap. I was forced to use a second set of new tires to qualify for Q2. Believe me, it was a close call!
I needed two additional sets of tires in Q2 and another one in Q3, where I posted the fastest time. In Q4, I found myself battling three other drivers for pole position. However, unlike my opponents, I was out of new tires. Unsurprisingly, they all proved faster than me, which meant a fourth-place, second-row start on the grid. Not bad. After all, like I said earlier, passing at Brands Hatch is a real challenge.