Interview
They say that overtaking is impossible around Monte Carlo but not for Hitech Pulse-Eight driver Luke Browning. The Williams Driver Academy talent found his way through the chaos of the opening lap to rise from P10 on the grid up to eighth.
It earned him valuable points on Saturday and after having time to see his heroics back, he reviewed his efforts to end the day with a promising result to carry into the Feature.
“We had a really good start. I think you just have to fill a gap in Monaco and hope it opens up for you, but it worked out well for me on the outside of T1. I think there was an incident that allowed me to slip around the outside and then the same for T3, they just sort of piled up on the inside.
“It was enough for me to use to my benefit, the extra grip on the outside at the start before the marbles got bad out there. So, to get P8, my first points in the Sprint, long may that continue.”
Browning says that he examined race starts from last season ahead of the event and spoke about his mentality approaching lights out.
Such are the limited opportunities to pull off a passing manoeuvre, the Hitech driver says his homework paid off and revealed he might have one or two more moves to bring out of his bag of tricks on Sunday morning.
“I did the same thing in the Sprint last year and it worked pretty well. So, I thought prior to coming in to today, maybe it would work again, or if the gaps there, then I'll go for it. It worked out really well. I don’t want to give away too many tricks for tomorrow, but I think we're in a good place. We’re on the clean side of the grid tomorrow for my launch, so hopefully we're able to get some good points.”
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Crucially in the bigger picture this year, one of Browning’s overtakes were on Fornaroli, who remains at the top of the Drivers’ Championship though his advantage has been minimised.
Every point will count and with two points separating the top two in the Championship ahead of the Feature Race, Browning says that it was a bonus to close the gap, but it remained too early to think about a title battle.
“It's just a nice bonus. I’ve got a lot of respect for Leo, we have a lot of respect for all the drivers, especially around here when we're fighting.
“That's one thing you definitely learn with the second year - having respect for each other. It's not easy to do these things, we're all fighting for the chance to get into F1, but it's exciting to be able to do it in the streets in Monaco.”
Starting from third on the grid tomorrow, Browning says that he is at peace with being unable to make an overtake and as much progress as he did on Saturday.
His pragmatic approach has served him well so far, and his goal remains to leave the Principality with valuable points over any highlight reel moves.
“Just looking to bring home the points. Obviously, we've seen it's difficult to overtake today, pace isn’t quite as relevant in the race after the first lap, so I'm hoping for a clean Turn 1, a nice start and maybe if there's an opportunity to go for a position then great. If not, I'll stay there, collect the points and off to Barcelona we go.”