Interview
Team manager Ricci lauds Trident’s progress, saying the Teams’ title would be an ‘extreme plus’
Although Trident team manager Giacomo Ricci had hoped to arrive in Sochi on level terms with PREMA, the Italian believes that with “a little bit of luck” they can still take the Teams’ title.
PREMA will arrive in Sochi with a 25-point buffer over Trident, but with 152 points on offer, Ricci insists that the team “still have a chance.” Trident have scored 133 over the past two rounds, 63 more than PREMA.
Jack Doohan, Clément Novalak and David Schumacher have all qualified in the top 10 for the last three rounds, a feat that PREMA haven't managed since Spielberg, and Ricci said that extending this run to four rounds will be key.
“We need to focus on ourselves and try to have a great qualifying, performing similar to Zandvoort, when all three drivers were in the top five in Qualifying,” said Ricci. “Hopefully we are in a position to fight for pole position, but there are a lot of competitive teams to fight with. We will just try to do our best and score as many points as possible.
“It’s never easy in this Championship as the level is really high. You need to be focused on yourself to do the best possible job. I feel extremely pleased that we are fighting with PREMA at this point of the season; they’re an extraordinary team with a huge history in motorsport. They’ve been successful in every category.
“I hoped to arrive at the last race, really, really close to them, or on the same points, but they’re arriving at the last race with an advantage. I still feel that we have a chance.”
Trident have already eclipsed last year’s points tally of 261.5 points, sitting in second on 327 and have atotal of 11 podiums and four wins, better than last season’s haul of nine podiums and three wins, and Ricci was keen to praise their progression.
“Every season we are fully dedicated to doing things better and learning from the mistakes that we’ve made in the past,” he continued. “One day, you can be at the top, and the next you aren’t and you're playing catch-up, so even if you are first, you have to question yourself and ask what you can do better. For me, that’s what has gotten us to this position.
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“It would be an extreme plus to win the title, for the effort that we put in as a team, the mechanics, engineers, the drivers, myself, everyone, but we’ll need a little bit of luck. Luck can play an extremely important role.
“Before Spa, the gap was huge, but we closed it that weekend. It’s now the type of gap where if one team makes a tiny mistake, then it can cost a lot. We will do our very, very best and prepare ourselves the best we can.”