Interview
Alessandro Giusti is confident that he and MP Motorsport can bounce back from a difficult Round 1 to fight at the front.
The French driver had a tough weekend in Melbourne, qualifying in P16 and could not make his way forward in either race – finishing P21 in the Sprint and P15 in the Feature.
Since then, Giusti has had time to reflect on the opening weekend and says he and MP understand where they went wrong.
“I was not that busy the first few weeks,” said Giusti of his approach post-Melbourne. “But then we worked a bit with the team at the workshop, and then I prepared myself physically and mentally.
“We had a bit of an issue in Melbourne, we were struggling a bit with the pace. We looked at it quite a lot and I think we'll try to change it."
Next up is Monte Carlo, but Giusti was very focused on the test in Spielberg, He says that because of the uniqueness of the Monaco layout, the true benefits of the two days in Austria will be truly felt in Barcelona.
“For us it's quite important because we need to test the issues we had,” he said. “We have to test the things we have to test. So it will be quite helpful for us, especially for Barcelona because Monaco is not a usual track. So it will be important after Barcelona onwards.”
Giusti scored points in both races last year in Monaco and even started from reverse grid pole in the Sprint Race. Looking ahead to the Principality and also the European rounds, the Williams Driver Academy member is feeling upbeat about his chances.
“I think Monaco was quite good,” said Giusti. “We were a bit unfortunate on the red flag, but it's a track I like. This year with a bit more experience I feel a bit better and I feel we can win Monaco again.
“But as I said, if we fix this issue I think we'll be at the front regularly. It depends on the track, some tracks were not so good last year, but I think we can do better.
“I'm quite confident. If I'm feeling confident in the car, and I’m confident we'll fight at the front.”