Esteban Gutierrez claimed his fourth eleventh place finish of 2016, missing out on points by just under seven seconds as he attempted to make a two-stop strategy work to his favour at the Hockenheimring on Sunday.
The Haas F1 Team driver was the only driver to start the race on the Soft compound Pirelli tyre, but lost ground at the start with a sluggish getaway, and made his first stop on lap 25, the latest of anyone in the field, and then made some gains when he switched to the Supersoft compound for the final two stints.
Gutierrez was disappointed to leave Germany without his first points of the season, with the Mexican now heading into the summer break with an eye on breaking through to the top ten at Spa-Francorchamps in three weeks time.
“It wasn’t an easy start,” said Gutierrez. “I had too much wheel spin and I was passed by quite a few cars. We were the only ones on soft tires, which was an aggressive strategy, so we were expecting to struggle for the first stint.
“After that I started to hold as much as I could and then began to fight back in the second stint. I was pushing all the way, trying to recover as much as I could, as well as trying to handle fuel saving. We’re not satisfied where we ended up, as we didn’t get the points we were aiming for.
“Now we head into the summer break, which will be good for the team after four races in five weeks. We’re all going to recharge our batteries and come back stronger, fighting for points at Spa.”
