"To get a podium finish was a great result considering we were struggling more than usual...."

We’ve had a very difficult weekend in the latest GP2 Series round supporting the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. So to get a podium finish for third place in the Sunday race was a great result considering we were struggling more than usual with being able to find any pace from the car.

Together with the DAMS team, we started off very competitively in free practice on Friday. But then others got faster and faster. We went for a long run to simulate a race pace while others went on qualifying-simulation runs. We didn’t look too bad, but we knew we were a little bit further off than we’d like to be.

That translated into qualifying, where I ended up eighth. We just missed some pace really. I had some traffic, and that theoretically cost me one and a half to two tenths of a second, but in fairness a lot of others had the same story. Fourth or fifth was possibly on, but we weren’t in the ballpark for the top three, which is where we should be.

The first race turned out to be total chaos. It started dry, then it rained heavily but only on about half the circuit. We were one of quite a few who decided to try wet tyres, but it didn’t work and we had to make another stop to get back onto slicks…

Early on our pace was similar to other people around us, and then I felt I was starting to come back stronger. I overtook Marvin Kirchhofer, caught Norman Nato but then I overheated the rear tyres a lot and dropped back. Artem Markelov came past me and he attacked Norman, but then he suffered the same problem and he slowed down.

When the rain came our choice of wet tyres wasn’t the right call, but we could have looked like heroes if it had worked. Once the rain stopped it was very humid and hot, which dried the circuit quickly, and I had to pit again. As luck would have it, that was the worst timing possible. The safety car came out immediately as I came in, and then they threw a red flag as I was on pit lane. Now I was back in last – there are times when you feel everything is conspiring against you.

Now I was on the super-soft tyres, but although our soft pace had been good the super-softs were destroyed within two laps. I finished 13th, although with two penalties to drivers ahead that put me up to 11th – still outside the points but at least two places up the grid for Sunday’s race.

That was fully wet, so there were no problems with which tyres to choose! I made some positions on the first lap because of a crash ahead, but then after the safety car I got duffed up a bit and lost a couple of places. Then the car came to me really nicely, and our pace was really strong.

I caught up a really tight pack and managed to pass all of them. That’s really tricky on a wet track, because one locked brake can be hairy and send you into somebody. The car was really good and gave me a lot of confidence, and once I got through them I was setting fastest laps and up to fourth.

There was a late safety car and I pulled off a really satisfying move, which lasted about three corners, to pass Raffaele Marciello for third. By the end of the race I was catching Oliver Rowland for second. Ollie was on the edge of destroying his tyres – whereas I’d been a bit of a Twinkletoes on mine! – so I reckon a couple of more laps and I would have got him. But to be fair to Jordan King, who won, he was very very fast.

So, just when we thought we were into the routine of the traditional tracks after the lottery of the street circuits in Monaco and Azerbaijan, we had another totally unpredictable weekend. My old Formula 3 team-mate Marciello is leading the points – and he hasn’t even won a race! So it’s still really up in the air as far as the championship is concerned, but what I do know is coming into Silverstone next weekend we need to improve. We’ve not been where we need to be recently and there’s a lot of hard work to be done.

Qualifying: 8th Race 1: 11th (started on soft tyres, switched onto wets, finished on super-soft) Race 2: 3rd