PdR:
It was quite a big jump, and it took me a long time to get my head around it, but the car is pretty similar. It has good brakes and a lot of power, and the driving technique when you find the limit is quite close to what you would experience in a single-seater. Everybody at Mercedes and Persson all helped tremendously, and I owe a big thank you to them. They certainly made my year easier than it could have been.
Q:
After your excellent results in the first few races, was there a point when you thought ‘I can win one of these’?
PdR:
Yeah, quite clearly. I think the strongest performance we were going to have was at the Norisring, but it rained before qualifying and I had never driven the car in the wet. That hampered us because we were in at least the top three in every session, including the warm-up, and it was all under control. We qualified eighth which wasn’t too bad, but then got taken out at the first corner and still managed to set the second-fastest race lap. There were a couple of times when we thought ‘ok, we’ve got the pace’; I would say we definitely had the pace to win the first race at Hockenheim, and didn’t due to inexperience and some other issues. Overall, though, I think we had to be happy with the podium.
Q:
Looking ahead now to the fast-approaching 2008 campaign, how excited are you feeling about the start of it, and what do you think you can achieve this year?
PdR:
I’m very much looking forward to it. I have a year under my belt, and I’m not going in as a rookie now; I’m going in as a title contender. Hopefully people will think of me in that way, and I want to make an impact quite soon, score as many points as I can and progress on in the championship.
Q:
And victories too..?
PdR:
Of course; I don’t think any driver can go into any year without expecting that. I went in last year expecting to, so hopefully this year what we expect we will do.
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