Parra hails ‘solid start’ in Shanghai for Campos but insists ‘we’re still not where we want to be’

Team Manager Gabriela Parra believes Campos Racing can start building momentum in their title fight, as her squad took control of the Teams’ Standings for the first time in F1 ACADEMY.

Their Shanghai weekend started off on a frustrating note after Racing Bulls' Rafaela Ferreira received three-place grid penalties for both races for causing a collision with Lia Block during Practice.

Fortunes seemed to turn on Friday afternoon, with both Chloe Chambers and Alisha Palmowski qualifying inside the top-five. This put them in a prime spot to move forward in Race 1 when Palmowski capitalised on Nina Gademan’s early retirement to bring home the team’s first 1-2 ahead of Chambers, with Ferreira finishing fifth.

Race 2 saw Chambers deliver back-to-back podiums in third, followed by Palmowski and Ferreira in P6 and P8, respectively.

Campos’ strong pace was evident as the only team to have their trio all score points in both races. Speaking at the end of the weekend, Parra was pleased to have delivered across the garage and believes performances like these are only the beginning.

“A really nice weekend for us — a strong solid start to the season,” Parra commented. “Having all three cars in the top-five in Race 1 was definitely a good thing to start (with). A race win and a double podium for Race 1 and then another podium in Race 2.

“Also all cars being in the points, it’s something really good. I think we’re still not where we want to be. We have plenty more potential to keep on going higher in the Standings, but it’s good to have the feeling that we are leaving Shanghai at the top of the Standings.”

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Fielding two rookies in Palmowski and Ferreira alongside Chambers in her sophomore season, Parra lauded their efforts to keep themselves out of the fray on race days.

“They behaved properly,” she explained. “The key was to stay out of trouble and try to be outside of the problems. Despite that, we had an incident in Free Practice. We bounced back and we tried to keep it clean for the rest of the weekend, and I think that was something that gave us an advantage to try to climb up positions in both races.”

She added: “It’s not the same when you start a season as rookie to when you have a year of experience. There was part of the field that we didn’t know. So, reflecting and knowing what’s everyone’s racecraft and style is something that we’re looking forward to.

“Now we have an idea of who we are competing against, so we will try to figure out the best way to beat everyone else.”

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Hitting the ground running, Campos have a 10-point advantage over MP Motorsport in the Teams’ Standings. Hopeful of bolstering their tally further in Jeddah, Parra says the team’s early success won’t make them complacent.

“It’s easier when you go to a circuit that you have been to before,” said Parra. “We have experience already in Jeddah. We are obviously on the high of being good over here, so we will try to take the momentum from here and experience from last year in Jeddah to try to maximise (the weekend) as much as we can.

“It’s super important to keep the momentum going, to keep the spirits high and to force our drivers to keep on growing, developing and to especially to keep bringing in points.”