Fittipaldi: Clean-cut Qualifying the target given Spielberg’s potential curveballs

30 June 2023

Enzo Fittipaldi might have started off the Spielberg weekend strongest by topping Free Practice, but the Rodin Carlin driver knows from experience that the job is far from over ahead of Qualifying.

Snatching P1 away from ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins just before the midpoint of the morning’s running, Fittipaldi’s best effort of a 1:15.216 remained untouchable to the end, aided by two late Red Flag appearances.

Nevertheless, Fittipaldi believes that translating that pace into Qualifying won’t be a simple affair and isn't setting himself any expectations. As the humidity picks up, the chance of downpours loom over the Red Bull Ring, adding to the challenge of finding room to set a lap around one of the shortest and fastest circuits on the calendar.

“It was a good run, I think to start the weekend off like this is always good, but we have to keep this performance going into Qualifying,” the Brazilian noted. “It looks very hot, temperatures are picking up, clouds are picking up and there could be a thunderstorm potentially. I'm looking forward to it, I feel confident. I know if it’s a clean session and everything goes as planned, I'm confident we'll be up at the top.

“I felt very good in the car. We were able to get through the whole run procedure and everything so it was a clean session for us. We got good data and we were doing purple sectors every lap.

He added: “I think getting a lap in is going to be really important. I expect maybe one Red Flag, it happens normally every year here. So, I need to get a good lap time in pretty early and just get a clean run, take my marks, and get the job done.”

With only 4.318km and 10 high-speed corners to play with, communication between the drivers and team’s will be of paramount importance. As Rodin Carlin Team Manager Benn Huntingford explains, it’s vital to give their duo of Fittipaldi and Zane Maloney the gaps they need.

Aiming to both avoid getting caught up in traffic or impede someone behind, both of which could have major implications for their session, teams are unlikely to gamble on running in the gap and missing out on the track evolution late on.

“It's a little bit like all tracks, it just all happens a bit quicker and there's a bit less space for everyone. We just try to stay in sync with the rest of the teams and that tends to happen a lot more on smaller circuits because everyone wants to get their lap in.

“It's just a case of finding the right time. We're not in a great position in the pit lane here because the way it's worked out, so we'll just have to sort of follow the pack and try and find ourselves a bit of space.

“We do give the drivers feedback on their track position and whether there's a gap behind them or in front of them and stuff like that. We try and help them move around and find themselves little bit of space on the circuit.”