After his last minute ride in the Hungarian Grand Prix, Paul di Resta admitted it was a pleasure to repay the faith the Williams Martini Racing team had in him after being chosen to replace the unwell Felipe Massa at the Hungaroring.
The first time the Scot drove the FW40 was during qualifying in Hungary, but despite the lack of track time and experience of the car, he was able to qualify nineteenth on the grid, ahead of Marcus Ericsson, although he failed to see the chequered flag due to an oil leak.
Di Resta hopes his performance keeps his foot in the door should another opportunity arise, with Chief Technical Officer Paddy Lowe admitting that his performance has brought him into contention for a ride in 2018.
‘It’s one of those jobs. I don’t think it’s any secret anywhere,” said di Resta on crash.net. “It’s not a sub-optimum way for the team, the way they think.
“Of course I believe in my ability and want the chance to show what I can do. Maybe puts you back in some way if you do a good job, maybe people will look at you for a race drive.
“The other thing is that the team have faith in you by using your services if they needed to rely on you again. I’ve got current experience again from these cars. I love being part of this family.
“They would then see the value of having me around here on the weekends should something happen to Felipe.”
