If you’re going to look for a contender when it comes to handing out “Rookie of the Year”, you can’t look past Paul Di Resta at the moment. The young Scot is quick and consistent, and at Hungary finally nabbed that points paying position he’d been craving, and his speed was demanding, over the last few races.
Not that he got the clean and straightforward weekend he’d been asking for. Giving up a few tenths to teammate Adrian Sutil on Saturday meant the difference between 8th and 11th, but the tentative first laps for Di Resta yielded a gain in position to run ahead of Sutil on lap 1. The German would lock his brakes and drop right to the back. Tick the box for beating your teammate, Paul.
Switching to dry tyres late than most of the field, he then spent some time chipping away at Nico Rosberg, before making a switch to the prime tyre for his last stint. Even with this hindrance, the Scot passed a slower Kobayashi and held off the charging Toro Rossos to secure 7th place. The way he celebrated by driving past the pit wall at the end was a fitting tribute to Force India, who’s updates have put him and Sutil further up the grid. Good haul of points – check.
The icing on the cake? Probably the way he handled the fact that Lewis Hamilton nearly ran him off the road. “It was close,” he said. “I took avoiding action and there were certainly no hard feelings to it.”. Media savvy – tick.
