Tramnitz: ‘Opportunities on the table if Qualifying goes smoothly’

Tim Tramnitz is optimistic about his and MP Motorsport’s chances going into the remainder of the Silverstone weekend after finishing Practice third.

The Red Bull Junior Team driver logged a 1:46.138 to finish 0.291s off pace-setter Nikola Tsolov, after spending the majority of the session in and around the top of the timings.

Speaking after the session, Tramnitz said things had started well for MP, and they had managed to get in a good place ahead of Qualifying later on.

“When you start the weekend in the first session, you always have to adapt and assess how the car feels, what the grip is like and how the track conditions are, which is always a bit different.

“That’s a bit of a challenge, but I think we managed it well. The car felt good, and we did some small changes throughout the session, which helped us.

“It looked like it was getting quicker and quicker through the run, so it could be interesting for Qualifying. So let’s see what we can do.”

Asked whether the fast start boosts his confidence even more, Tramnitz said that he was happy, but that the team now had to take the opportunity in front of them, with their baseline pace already in a good place.

“A lot of confidence. We are always quick, it’s a bit of luck that we’ve missed in the last few Qualifying sessions, but I think we always have had the potential to be at least in the top five.

“I mean we just need to take our chances and need to be confident to do our job. I’m sure that the pace will be good enough to qualify at the front.”

Tramnitz has made a habit of storming through in races this season after a difficult result in Qualifying left him and the team with a recovery job on Saturday and Sunday.

READ MORE: PRACTICE: Tsolov comfortably quickest in opening Silverstone session

Last weekend’s podium charge in Spielberg was perhaps one of his strongest performances of the season so far, but he was eager to give himself less work to do this time around.

While he would of course welcome a pole and the two points that come along with it, the German driver is confident that even a top five result in Qualifying would leave him in contention for victories in both races this weekend.

He was also mindful of the fact the title remains a realistic prospect, with Championship leader Rafael Câmara not too far away, 24 points ahead of him in the Standings.

“We always show good pace in the races. I think we don’t even need to start from Pole Position to fight for a race win. Everything looks like it’s working quite well for us in the races.

“I think if we start somewhere in the top five, we can always have a good shot at a race win, especially on Sunday, which is important.

“I think for the rest of the season in Qualifying, we just need to be consistently up there, then our chance will come. Everything is getting a bit tighter, so let’s see how we go in Qualifying.

“But the last races were a bit more difficult for Rafa, so there could be a chance, and we need to use it.”

Looking ahead to Qualifying, Tramnitz says the team will be aiming to repeat their Practice performance and adapt to conditions quickly and effectively.

The mid-session changes made in the 45-minute outing brought speed, and the MP driver says with the expected track evolution, adaptability will be crucial once again.

“I think again like in Practice, we need to go out and assess how the conditions are, what is working and then go from there. We can then fine tune everything a little bit more.

“In the end, it’s super important to fine tune those things because the gaps are already close in Practice. So it will be a tight Qualifying session, so we just need to adapt quickly and have a good strategy to avoid traffic.”