Glass Half Full Ghiotto knows weekend could have been “much worse”

Sat on the left of three chairs in the Formula 1 press conference room, discussing the season’s third round of racing, Luca Ghiotto could have been in a very different mood. The Italian’s points total for the weekend was actually very impressive, as he added 28 to his tally and returned to second in the driver’s standings. However, lingering in that press room was the notion that the weekend could have played out as differently as his reaction to it.

After all, those 28 points don’t tell the whole story. The story of how the Italian returned from the depths of last place, after a stuttered start and a totalled front-wing, having been smacked by the side of Dorian Boccolacci’s Campos. Those 28 points also don’t account for his domination leading up to race day, when he topped both Free Practice and Qualifying to claim pole position.

Instead of lamenting anyone, or searching for someone to blame, he simply conceded: “It's nothing that we could really avoid, there’s nothing we could do.” The Italian was annoyed, of course he was - he’s a sportsman, which means he’s bred to win, but having driven from last to fourth, he knew he’d emptied the metaphorical tank,

“I'm frustrated and you can't really understand how much really because I think we've been quick all weekend. Friday was a clean day for us, pole position was a good day and then yesterday the problem at the start and then the crash. It's nothing that we could really avoid.

"But, it’s one of those weekends where I'm happy still because it could have been much worse yesterday. P4 is better than out of the points, but of course considering where we started it's not where I want to be. It's good to know at least that we have the pace.”

Ghiotto improved on Saturday’s P4 finish the following day in the Sprint Race, capping off his weekend with one of the round’s tastiest overtakes, when he took P2 off Callum Ilott at the death.

“I didn't think I was going to make it because my exit on the last corner was really bad, but it looks like DRS here is having quite a big effect and the gap to the car behind was quite big so I just said: 'I'll try around the outside, even if I go out I'll get P3.'

“So I tried it and it worked out well, he was really good and solid with his pace. He's one of those drivers who's really good to fight with, that always leaves space. Clean racing as it should be. It was a nice move but it wasn't for P1 unfortunately.”