6th place for vesti at imola

Prior to Friday's qualifying at Italian Imola, there was some speculation as to whether it would be possible at all to hold the mandatory Friday practice and qualifying due to heavy rain. But both went ahead and greatly delayed before darkness fell.

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Because Imola feels like 'my' track, where I've been at the top of the podium before, I kept hoping and crossing my fingers till the very end that we would get a dry qualifying. That would mean that many of my competitors who have no experience with the track, would be a little extra challenged because they only had experience with the track on wets in practice. But qualifying got precisely as wet like the rest of Friday! And I had to see myself trapped in the pit for almost 10 minutes before I got on the track. My battery was dead. It's never optimal to lose any driving time, especially in a position as a rookie in the series where every single lap means learning and greater experience. Our set-up on the first set of new tires was not optimal. In my last attempt on new tires a bad sector 2 cost me dearly. I drove the 16th fastest time. Definitely not satisfactory. The difference between doing well and badly in qualifying in my race car feels so small, but is felt quite brutally in terms of a poor result when things are not going your way.

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In the short sprint race on Saturday, Vesti finished in 10th place.

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I was really happy with that race. I drove a strong race run, was in full control of the car, had lots of consistency and cool duels and overtaking. Especially my overtaking on Jack Doohan felt very good!

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The feature race on Sunday was full of drama, the safety car was deployed several times due to many exits and accidents, and which other drivers profited from.

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Luck and misfortune often go hand in hand in motorsport. Even though I started as P16 and finished P6, this was not a race I will recall for very long. There were far too many coincidences due to the many accidents. Also I didn't have the same good feeling with my car like in the sprint race. But my team made an ingenious disposition with an early pit stop, which gave me a clear advantage at the end of the race. But there were few overtakings, none of us really gained positions out there. Although I am unable to put a big smile on, of course on behalf of the team I am tremendously happy with the overall result today.

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Vesti's teammate, Theo Pourchaire, who also started far down on the grid, ended up taking the victory, and benefited like Vesti from the team's strategy - and because of the misfortunes of others. He thus snatched the lead of the championship from F. Drugovich from MP Motorsport. Vesti himself is pleased to finally put his first points into the account.

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I have a plan that I follow. It's always a challenge not to be influenced by several bad results, but I have to hold on to taking one step at a time to achieve full control in the long run and thus consistency. It is the small things combined that should slowly but surely move me forward in the field, not a lot of big changes. But it requires that I do not force my development. I'm pretty aware of that. I'm in a really good place with my team, so with great anticipation I am truly looking forward to the next many races on European soil.

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4th round of F2 is taking place in Barcelona May 20-22.