‘Started from zero’ – Hausmann satisfied by best-ever Qualifying after Free Practice woes

Tina Hausmann’s Barcelona weekend might not have started the best, but the Aston Martin driver is pleased by the ‘step forward’ she and PREMA Racing made to turn things around in Qualifying.

Finishing P12 in Free Practice, Hausmann admitted she hadn’t been able to find her groove behind the wheel during the session. Working hard during debrief to tweak their setup, their efforts paid off as the Swiss racer secured her highest Qualifying results of her rookie F1 ACADEMY campaign in P6 and P7.

Speaking after Qualifying, she believes that the result was the maximum that was on the table given her relative newness around the track.

“I’m happy with the improvements we did from Free Practice to Qualifying,” Hausmann reflected. “Starting positions are optimal to make up some places in the races, they are good starting positions. Now we try to find where we can gain some more time, but a good step forward from Free Practice, where we struggled as a team and we put it together in Qualifying.

“I think Free Practise didn’t give me a feeling for the track or for the car, so it was a big, big change from that to Qualifying. We started basically from zero, so I'm quite happy. Of course, there are a few tenths here or there — like 0.2s I could have been better, but that comes with experience.

"For where I am, I’m happy with the position. We can always do better, as long as I’m not P1, I’m not super happy, but I’m happy.”

Hausmann’s Qualifying form has been strong so far, but she was unlucky not to convert two top 10 starts into points after contact in both races last time out in Miami.

Putting the misfortune to the back of her mind, she stressed the need to get a big haul of points in the bag, but knows how difficult that task will be as tyre degradation could make her vulnerable to attack.

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“For sure, it’s very, very important,” Hausmann noted. “Miami was very unlucky and out of my hands, but it’s not something I think about anymore. I move forward and it’s a new start now. For sure, I will convert it into very good points this weekend.

“Tyre degradation will be super important in the race. It will be a big factor, one of the main factors. In the end, you have to have a good feeling for the tyres. You need to understand what to do, but I’m confident for that. Everyone will struggle with it, so it’s about who struggles the least.”