Caldwell explains Qualifying struggles and insists he has the pace to win Race 2

Olli Caldwell said that Race 1 went “as well as I could have expected,” as he rose six places from 16th to 10th on the back of a difficult Qualifying session, with the PREMA Racing driver revealing that he was without DRS for the majority of Friday afternoon.

Ending a run of three races without a point, Caldwell will be looking to return to the podium for the first time since Race 1 in Budapest. The Briton had originally been in the thick of the title race but has fallen to seventh on the back of a difficult two rounds.

“I’ve got mixed emotions,” said Caldwell. “I think that we’ve shown that we have the pace to be much higher up, but unfortunately, my DRS wasn’t working for the majority of Qualifying, which is why I believe I am where I am. That’s not great, but the race went as well as I could have expected.

“We managed to salvage some points and I don’t think I could have gotten much higher. We have got a good starting position for Race 2 this afternoon and I’ll be focused on finishing as high as I can to recover as many points as I can.”

Caldwell watched on as his teammate, Arthur Leclerc, stormed from third to first in the opening race to score his second win of the year.

Lining up in the same position for Race 2, Caldwell explained why he believes that it will be difficult to replicate the Monegasque’s storming race start, but he asserted that it won’t stop him from eying up a second win of his own.

“People will have learned from the Race 1 start, so I think it will be bit more difficult to do what Arthur (Leclerc) did,” said Caldwell. “We are super quick, though, and I do think that we’ve got the pace to win, so let’s see what happens.

“There were a lot of people suffering from tyre deg, but luckily I wasn’t one of them. I had a flat spot, but it didn’t impact too much on the state of my tyres. I think a lot of people will have learned from that, learning where they can and can’t push hard, so I think tyre deg will be the key.”