Daruvala believes he can join the title fight, he just needs to ‘string a weekend together’

Jehan Daruvala says that seeing fellow Red Bull junior Jüri Vips turn his season around in Baku is proof that one good round can change the course of your season, with the Carlin driver only “a win away from the Championship lead.”

Vips was languishing down in tenth at the end of Round 2, but is now up to fourth, just 15 points off Championship leader Guanyu Zhou following a double win in Round 3. Sitting 10 points and three places behind, Daruvala says he’s eying a similar revolution at Silverstone.

The Indian is 25 points behind Zhou - the exact number handed out to the Feature Race winner – and believes he can take advantage of how tight things are at the top.

“After this weekend, we’ll be halfway through the season, but it still feels like there's a long way to go,” said Daruvala. “You saw it with Jüri (Vips). One weekend he was nowhere and then all of a sudden, he is in the fight.

“If you string a weekend together, you can suddenly be right up there. I am confident that we have a good race car. I am also confident that I have improved myself in terms of managing the tyres and being able to get them right to the end of the race.

“I have always been really quick here at Silverstone. It's a track that is like a home away from home for me. I am really looking forward to it. It's also the home track for our team, so I want to be successful.”

After beginning the year with a strong second-place finish, Daruvala has only scored one more podium since then, finishing third in the second Sprint Race.

That came after a tough weekend in Monaco, where he scored just a single point – in the second Sprint Race – dropping out of the scoring positions late in the first Sprint and the Feature.

The Carlin racer is pleased to be switching back to a more traditional circuit, after two street rounds in a row.

“Having not driven too many street circuits before, I did have to spend some time adapting to them,” continued Daruvala. “Coming back to a traditional circuit, it should suit me a bit more.

“Baku was definitely a step forward from Monaco in terms of results and points, but I think in terms of raw pace, I can show more of that this weekend. I am confident that I can qualify at the front and fight at the front and for the win."