Marco Wittmann feels robbed of Macau victory by safety car restart
Marco Wittmann said he still felt like a moral winner of the Macau Grand Prix - after seeing his victory hopes dashed by a safety car restart
The German had been in dominant form in the early stages of the race, pulling out a 2.7-second advantage at the head of the field, before seeing his lead wiped away by a safety car.
At the restart, he was engulfed by the pursuing cars which picked up his slipstream and he found himself shuffled down to fifth place.
Although he recovered to finish third - and felt he could still have won the race if the event had not finished under a safety car - he could not hide his disappointment afterwards.
"For us it is really disappointing to lead all the weekend, know you are really fast here and at the end of an important race you are not there," explained the Signature driver.
"But that is racing. I think we need to sleep on it, and then maybe we will feel a bit different. Congratulations to Daniel and a big thank you to my team, we had a really good package and in the end I think we are the winner in our hearts."
Wittmann said there was nothing he could have done to hold on to his lead at the second safety car restart because the chasing pack were too close to him.
"I did a good start and was able to lead the race to Lisboa, even if it was difficult. I was able to stay in the lead after the first safety car phase, as normally it is difficult if the safety car is out and nearly impossible to stay in the lead.
"I pushed a lot and was really quick and was able to make a big gap to my followers, and I could continue like that through the race. There was a second safety car, and the restart was similar to the first one but the followers were closer to each other, and they gave each other a big tow and I had no chance. They overtook me on the left and on the right, and I was fifth after Lisboa.
"But you know, at Macau everything can happen so I didn't give up. I pushed really hard and I think I was really on the limit to catch back up.
"I was able to get back up to position three, I was pushing a lot before the third safety car to catch up, and I was doing so. Unluckily the safety car came out, as maybe I still had the chance to win on the last lap but it was not the case."
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