Words with Waters: Winton Wonderland

On the balance, I’d say I was pretty happy coming away from Winton.

It started off well in practice. We were quick from the start, and we tried a few things and learnt a few things as well. And then to qualify third on Saturday morning, that was really, really cool.

The race obviously didn’t go to plan with that incident with James Courtney at Turn 5, but I still finished 16th – which is about as good as you can expect after something like that!

On Sunday, I had a really quick race car… but I got hit by Shane van Gisbergen and it damaged a rear tyre. I was really struggling, everyone was hitting me, so the Prodrive guys made a great call on strategy to get me out of the pack and in some clean air. We maximised that; that’s what got us back in the race.

So to finish the weekend off with a fifth, that was cool. Hopefully it’s the start of my luck being turned around.

Smart work pays off

We three-stopped on Sunday, and it was the early stop that really made the difference. We put a lot of fuel in the car, and the clean air worked wonders.

We had the pace, but it’s hard to use it when you’re in the pack – particularly at Winton. But in clean air we we were pretty competitive, so it was a great decision by the team.

I took on a lot of fuel on the second stop as well, and that meant my final stop was nice and short, and I popped out in a good position.

It was a very smart strategy, but from the driver’s seat it can be a little frustrating. You have to be patient to make a strategy like that work, because it doesn’t pay off until the final stint. And then it’s even more frustrating when the Safety Car comes out, because you feel like you’ve gone back a long way.

But you have to keep it in mind that you’re going to be better off at the end, and that the positions will come back to you.

And the nice trade off is that you get to get into clean air and maximise the car, rather than trying to race people. Getting caught up in battle just slows you up.

Caught up with Courtney

The clash with James Courtney during Saturday’s race is something that I’m chalking up as a racing incident. These things happen.

We raced through four, I squeezed him out a little bit. Then we got to Turn 5 and I had to turn in because I had already given him some room. And I don’t think he turned in where he probably should have.

But it is what it is. It’s racing, it happens. There’s no point dwelling on it, you have to move on straight away.

Indy-bound

We have a bit of a break now before the next round in Darwin, so I’m off to The States for a bit of a holiday. I’m heading off tomorrow, and the plan is check out a few cities, and maybe even check out the Indy 500. It will be cool, it’s nice to have a break after a hectic start to the year.