Interview
Vesti searching for an ‘extra one per cent in 15 different places’
Aside from a brief holiday, Frederik Vesti spent the summer break attempting to find an additional “one per cent in 15 different places,” as he looks to make up the ground he lost during a hapless Round 4 at Budapest.
The Dane entered Round 4 in second place with one eye focused on bridging the 41-point gap to Dennis Hauger but departed in fourth, 72 points behind after a Race 1 retirement robbed him of the chance to score on Saturday. Things improved on Sunday, but not drastically, with Vesti finishing where he started, taking P7 and six points.
Vesti vowed to “fight back” at the end of the round and arrived in Spa determined to deliver on that promise.
“It is all about being in the present time and maximising every situation,” said Vesti. “In Austria, we won and then we came to Hungary with really good potential, but nothing really seemed to go our way.
“In Quali, we were P7, which is something that I could have done better for sure. We have worked hard on realising the problems and changing them. Retiring from Race 1 and not scoring for the whole of Saturday was really tough, and it wasn't good for the championship, but that’s the way that it is.
“The key is to be consistent because we are fast. We have been fast in Quali and quite fast in races, but sometimes it feels a bit random.”
And after working hard over the summer, Vesti and the ART team have a pretty clear idea on how to gain that touch of consistency and rid themselves of the random factor.
“It is in all of the small details,” he explained. “Everything from our preparation to how we structure our weekend and the way that we structure everything within the team and me as a driver.
“It is finding that one per cent in 15 different places and in the end that turns out to be a lot. Those are the things that we are pushing really hard for. So many small things we need to be working on to get that consistency.
“We know how quickly this championship can turn. Last weekend we had a horrible weekend, but in Austria, I scored 42 points and it put me in a much better position.”