Verschoor: No-score Sprint hurts but Silverstone result can help rest of season

2 July 2022

Richard Verschoor says he is still hopeful of picking up points at Silverstone in order to make up for lost results elsewhere this season. The Trident driver said that the team made a positive start, but that it had lost speed in the wet compared to where it had finished in Free Practice when conditions were dry.

Speaking after the race, Verschoor said that the rain had caused the setup to fall away from him and highlighted the rapidly drying track as a key factor in that.

“It didn’t feel like a decent race to be honest. Of course, gaining five positions isn’t bad, I think it felt a bit strange for most drivers. The way the tyres behaved, because the track was drying very quickly, everybody was sliding like crazy. It was falling away and I would have loved to have a bit more pace than what we had.”

There were plenty of drivers up and down the field that were feeling the effects of the overheating wet Pirelli tyres. Almost immediately, drivers sought out wet patches of track to regulate the temperatures and retain as much tyre life as possible.

Verschoor says that it was an issue for him as soon as the Safety Car peeled into the pits, and that it wasn’t the usual traction zones that were causing him the biggest problem.

“As soon as lap three they started to go off. Then it just got worse and worse and worse. For me the toughest part to keep temperatures in check was the last corner. Normally it’s easy flat but of course, in the rain, I was in full drift the whole way through. Then you had to try and cool them down the main straight so constantly turning.

“Even in the dry we are lacking a bit of pace. We’re not as strong as we were for example in Baku or Monaco, so I don’t know. The track doesn’t suit us that much.”

Though the Sprint Result wasn’t exactly what he had been hoping for, Verschoor admits that the progress he made in the race was a promising sign for the Feature Race on Sunday. The Dutch driver also has his eye on the bigger picture, adding that any insights the team can gain now will prove to be hugely important later in the season.

The Trident driver picked out Spa as an example due to the similar characteristics it shares with the Silverstone circuit as an important race to target with information the team gains this weekend.

“We are doing some changes for tomorrow, we had already planned them for today, but obviously it was wet. Hopefully it goes a bit in the right direction, and we have some data for tracks like Spa later this season. It’s quite similar so I hope we move in the right direction with that and make up some positions, at least into the top 10.

“We need some points. I’ve had so many races now without points. I think three of them weren’t really in my control. It means that we don’t really have races we can use as a buffer. Every time we don’t score in a race, it’s extra bad let’s say.”