Christian Mansell’s Lusail weekend in his words

It had looked like a difficult weekend for Trident and Christian Mansell but the Australian and his team persevered and were rewarded with Feature Race points on Sunday evening.

The combination proved that there’s always something to fight for as he came through from 20th on the grid after a mistake in Qualifying to score valuable points in just his second Formula 2 race weekend.

Here is how the Lusail round unfolded from his point of view.

PRACTICE – P13

“I really enjoyed it. It's definitely like no other that's for sure, probably as a qualifying track, it's awesome though as a racetrack, it's a bit hard to pass. But, at the end of the day, you're going flat out around most of the circuit doing excess of 280kph, so I'm enjoying myself.

“It was a shame in Practice, that we didn't get too much running because of a hydraulics issue within the gearbox, but managed to do maybe three push laps, and was sort of in the mix, and on those push laps, still encountered some of the issues that we were facing. So, it wasn’t too bad.”

QUALIFYING – P20

“We should have definitely been well inside the top 10, but I just made a mistake on my last push and have to take full accountability. It was the last push and I gave it everything. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Obviously, I should have tried harder, because I went off, but it'll be okay.

“Qualifying under the lights - everyone bangs on about how cool it is, but you only realise how cool it is outside of the car. Inside the car, you don't notice anything because you're just driving.”

SPRINT RACE – P15

“I had a bit of a poor getaway, to be honest, and got caught up in a little bit of a thing, no damage, of course, just had to take some avoiding action with Max, and I think it Rafael Villagómez, which was a shame.

“But it was pretty much follow the leader after that, it turned into a bit of a DRS train and I couldn't really pass too much, but I learned a lot there at least, which was quite helpful. But P15 in the end. I did go five spots up, but a lot of those were for free, in fairness. So hey, look, you take it, but it's definitely nothing in comparison to the Feature Race.”

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FEATURE RACE – P6

“I did make a few overtakes and obviously had an awesome strategy from Trident and myself. This was a team effort, both sides, of the pit wall, and obviously me in the car we’re making calls.

“I'm really proud that I can back myself and I back them. I got lucky with a Safety Car, there's no denying, but I wouldn't have been in that position if I didn't box earlier, and that was a call from myself, so I made that call first, they backed it up and followed it through. It's definitely a well-earned result from both sides.”

UP NEXT – YAS MARINA

“I'm really excited because again, I have no pressure. It's like these are the easiest races of my life. I will just go and enjoy it which is the best way to do it. But to be honest, it's been my motivation throughout this year, in F3 as well, to just enjoy myself and give the absolute maximum of me and the car.

“That’s how you can go to bed at night fulfilled because if you do give your absolute best, and even though it might not be better than others due to circumstance, car performance, or the way the stars align, you know you can at least go to bed happy and content in yourself that you've done a good job. And that's very important to me.”