Wharton taking the positives from Spielberg Sprint despite missing out on the podium

PREMA Racing's James Wharton wound up fourth in the Spielberg Sprint Race after starting from reverse grid pole. But the Australian is eager to emphasize the steps forward the team has made in recent rounds.

It has been a difficult start to the year, with an incident in Melbourne leaving him with an injury to recover from, but since the European season has been rolling, so have improved results.

Wharton says that despite missing out on a deserved podium in Spielberg, the pace the team was able to show was strong, and that it was little details that added up to deprive him of a second-consecutive Sprint podium around the Red Bull Ring.

"Overall, it was a good points haul for us as a team," he explained. "At the end of the day, it's not coming easy, so a top five this year, the end result is OK. But at the same time, there was more left on the table.

"A little mistake with one lap to go cost me P2, and then my right mirror was off the car, so I had to defend on the last lap not really knowing where the cars were, which is why I defended too much.

"So, little things didn't quite go our way, but at the same time, in this sport, little mistakes cost a lot, and we experienced that today. We were fighting at the front, and I was P2 on Lap 20 of 21, so we need to take that away for tomorrow."

One thing he and the team will be counting on is the difference in tyre life between him and rivals around him on the grid.

The Australian driver says they decided to save a fresh set of the Hard compound Pirelli tyres in order to use them in the Feature Race on Sunday.

READ MORE

• Le disqualified, Bhirombhakdi penalised post Spielberg Sprint Race
• SPRINT RACE: Rivera persistence pays off with maiden F3 victory in Spielberg

That, combined with the longer race length, is something he hopes counts in their favour come lights out in Spielberg.

"I didn't use a new tyre today to save for Sunday, so hopefully that gives us a little bit of an edge to be able to come through and make up for today.

"I think there were only a couple of cars with new tyres today, so maybe not a big advantage like we expected, but at the same time, I feel like a longer race is going to be a little bit heavier in terms of deg, so we can hopefully come through, because I feel like the more laps we do, the better we get. Just today, we didn't quite show that."

Overall, Wharton was disappointed to not convert his reverse grid pole into more but says that from where the team had started out this year, it was a step in the right direction.

Looking ahead to Sunday's race and Round 5 in Silverstone, he believes more positive results are possible, and it's all about executing a clean weekend from here on out.

"I feel like Sprint Races - if you lose two spots, it's only two points, so it's a little bit better than a Feature Race. If we're finishing P4 for the rest of the year in every Sprint, we're going to be quite happy.

"I just need to take those points, and then tomorrow hopefully get a bit more. I could have done a better job overall today, and I feel like this whole weekend I've been a little bit on the back foot.

"Maybe the result is not showing. Starting at the front, let's say it covers a lot of the mistakes, but at the same time, this weekend hasn't been my strongest, and if my lesser weekends end with a P4 in a Sprint, I have to be quite happy with that.

"We need to take that into tomorrow and hopefully get some more points and then move to Silverstone and have a bit of a better Qualifying."