Small consolation in slipstream battle at Monza
Monza without slipstream is like a day without sunshine, at least in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. That was precisely the element that Switzerland’s Jeffrey Schmidt lacked at the crucial moment to secure a decent qualifying result. Consequently, he was able to qualify no higher than tenth – a far from ideal grid position for the 14-lap race at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Despite this setback, the Lechner Racing Middle East driver managed to make good two places during the race. With a final haul of ten championship points, Schmidt is in fifth place and still in with a good chance.
Jeffrey, you were on the ball in terms of straight line speed. Despite that, the weekend didn’t go according to plan for you. What was the problem?
To get the maximum in Monza, it’s essential to exploit the slipstream of the vehicle ahead. In qualifying, I was unable to do that. I had a fast driver in front of me and was right on his tail. Unfortunately, he misbraked quite early on the lap, which had the effect of ruining my own time. So I had to make do with tenth on the grid. Although I succeeded in gaining positions in the race, eighth place is not what I had planned for Monza.
In free practice on Friday, you made your presence felt with a sector best time. So the potential was definitely there…
Yes, it certainly was. The guy in front gave me a good tow, but I got a bit too close to him in the second sector. That caused me to lose time. In addition, the tyres were no longer at their freshest. But sixth place in free practice put me in a positive frame of mind for qualifying on Saturday. I knew what to do and where I needed to go even faster in order to make further progress.
In qualifying, things initially looked good. Why did you subsequently drop back?
I had two sets of tyres for qualifying. On the first of these, I posted the fourth-fastest time and was right behind the Porsche Juniors. For my second stint, though, the timing was not ideal. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. On my first attempt, the guy in front misbraked, and on the second, I came up behind a slower driver, which cost me a lot of time. Slipstream here is easily worth three tenths of a second. Ultimately, I was just 0.25 seconds off fourth place, so a top grid position would have been possible.
There was a lot of action in the race, including the safety car coming out twice. On the few remaining laps, you still managed to gain two positions…
I got off to a good start and intended to take the first corner on the outside, but there was no room. Going for the inner line cost me two places which I then won back. I didn’t want to take too many risks at the start, because I absolutely had to score points. After the first safety car deployment, I managed a pretty good restart. I got alongside the car in front going into the first chicane and then outbraked him. In the chicane itself, another driver turned in a little too early in front of me and there was contact. After that, my steering was a bit suspect. Nevertheless, my speed was pretty good. But unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to take me any further forward.
You will certainly want to finish further forward in the Porsche Carrera Cup at the Nürburgring, a circuit where you’ve already made two podium appearances in the 2014 season.
The chances are good this time too. I like the track very much. The Nürburgring is legendary. There are so many climbs and descents – tracks with differences in elevation are very much to my liking. The atmosphere there is always very special. I am sure that we will be back among the front-runners again.
