Di Resta: Making waves in Formula 1

There's no official prize for the best rookie in Formula 1, but by any measure Paul di Resta would have been a worthy winner in 2011. Sergio Perez had some strong races, but di Resta scored more points than the Mexican and finished a solid 13th in the world championship. He made the top 10 on eight occasions, and kept his far more experienced team-mate Adrian Sutil on his toes.

In many later races the two Force Indias ran split strategies in order to cover any threat from Sauber or Toro Rosso - close rivals in the constructors' championship. On occasion di Resta drew the short straw, so his final points tally could have looked even better.

Still, he was acknowledged by readers of this website with the Rookie of the Year prize at the AUTOSPORT Awards. He's certainly done more than enough to secure a place at Force India for 2012 and, while the team has yet to formally confirm its driver line-up, you'd probably get long odds on it containing two Germans and no Scots.

"Looking back at the year you can say it was reasonably positive," says di Resta. "There have been highs and lows - given how long the season is it's going to be like that. There were times when we didn't maximise it, and there were times when I've made mistakes or the team's made mistakes.

Di Resta gained experience in eight Friday practice sessions in 2010... © LAT

"The nice thing about it is that we came in with ambitions of being sixth in the constructors' championship. We started very slowly, but with a change of philosophy that we started during the winter we turned it around and we were in a strong position. We were fairly aggressive towards the end of the year to make that happen."

A rookie season is always tough, but things have not got any easier since the clampdown on in-season testing. In addition to the few days of running in Spain in February with the new car, di Resta could at least draw on the knowledge gained from the eight practice sessions he took part in over the course of 2010, plus the November rookie and Pirelli tests at Yas Marina. Nevertheless, he had less running than newcomers used to have.

"You can always be better prepared, but we had quite a difficult winter as well. The car wasn't giving the most confidence going into the first race, but it is what it is, and you just have to deal with what you're given. Back in the days when there was a lot of testing I'm sure the jump was a bit easier. But you can't talk too much about the past or the future."

The concern for di Resta was that, while he obviously wanted to make an immediate impact, during the winter the team took a decision that it knew would impact form at the start of the season. A change of design philosophy meant a focus on making the car competitive on all types of tracks rather than a missile in a straight line, as previous models had tended to be.

It was thus acknowledged internally that the VJM04 might be off the pace until updates came on stream - one step back to take two forward. In fact the early races were better than expected and, helped by Sauber's disqualifications in Australia, di Resta picked up a point for 10th on his debut.

"There were some issues with the package we started with, but the good thing was that very quickly we were able to solve them, certainly by the time we arrived in Melbourne. That's the time that it had to be sorted by - we would have liked it quicker, but it was done in enough time.

...at the same time as winning the DTM title for Mercedes © LAT

"Going to Australia we'd accepted that the performance was probably not going to be quite where it needed to be to score points. But we put ourselves in a good position in qualifying and we had good race pace. The main thing was our reliability - that had to be key, and in the end that paid off. By China we already had an upgrade, and the performance level was massively boosted by that."

Di Resta regularly outqualified Sutil in the first few races and, while the German didn't always have trouble-free sessions, the bare stats are what people noticed.

"It does matter. It's about getting in there fast and getting up to speed. I think we've been very close this year, the closest two drivers up and down the paddock."

After his flying start to the season, di Resta quickly came back to earth. In Monaco and Canada he received penalties for causing collisions, even though on both occasions a broken front wing had already compromised his own race.

"There was a bit of frustration. The Monaco one I can look back, and there were reasons... I was on the same kind of strategy as Lewis [Hamilton]. Lewis was just in front of me, he came across two cars, he got blue flags and got let by. I didn't get that treatment. I went for a move that was probably a bit ambitious. It was a difficult one to give me a penalty for, considering that there was no damage done to the other car.

"The Canada one I firmly believe that [Nick] Heidfeld was in the wrong. He cut across in front of me, he left me no space to go anywhere, and we touched. Again I lost my front wing, no damage to him, and I got a penalty. You learn lessons in F1, but they were going to be two very good races for points finishes."

So given how crucial those lost points were to the team, did he learn that it was worth being patient?

"You have to be careful, but at the same time you can't sit and wait. If you're going to make an impression, you need to do it right. Clearly I'm only trying to do the best for the team and put the team in the best position; I'm not trying to cause an accident."

Split strategies often meant the Force Indias converged on-track © sutton-images.com

He began to regain momentum at Silverstone, where he put in an awesome qualifying lap - only for a mix-up over tyres in the pits to spoil his race.

"It was obviously a wet Friday, and we seemed to be fairly happy. We had limited track time Saturday morning, and then straight into qualifying. All I can say is that the pre-race work we'd done paid off, and we qualified sixth. It wasn't like it was undeserved - the speed was good.

"The first part of the race I was seventh and still going very strongly, until we had a little bit of a problem in the pitstop."

He admits that Sunday at Silverstone was the biggest disappointment of his rookie year, especially after the high of qualifying: "Yeah, I think so, given what that race meant. There was a bit of confusion, but at the end of the day the team wasn't trying to compromise me. It was just a genuine mistake and a bit of confusion."

After that things took a turn for the better - between them, the drivers scored points at nearly every race. Very often they qualified and raced together, and strategy determined which of them ended up in front. The key was the car's consistent form.

"You'd expect Hungary to be one of our weaker tracks, and it was one of the strongest results that we had," says di Resta. "And it just continued on, although we were up against it, because Toro Rosso had huge upgrades.

"Up and down the paddock people still expected us to be mighty quick at Monza and Spa. Monza was probably one of the hardest races that we had - we were not that competitive in a straight line. It was a hit to take. You might say we were lucky, but we extracted what we could out of it, and managed to get an eighth place.

"You'd have to say Singapore was a highlight, given that it was genuine performance that got us where we were. Hungary was good as well because we went forward quite a bit. We started 11th, and went forward to seventh, and it was quite an action-packed race with some rain."

Di Resta says Singapore was his highlight of the season © sutton-images.com

Thanks in part to the benefit of some F1 mileage in 2010, di Resta has made the transition from DTM look relatively easy: "I wouldn't say it was too hard. DTM is obviously a competitive series, with downforce or whatever. As you say I had a bit of an insight into it last year, and that was the important part. I feel it would take you the same amount of time coming from GP2 to get into it. F1 is such a big jump from everything you've ever done.

"There are more pressures, you're under a spotlight more, and you kind of hide away from it. But it all becomes part of the job. I think you understand that when you become an F1 driver, that's what happens."

So what did he learn over the course of the year?

"I think you're just a bit more relaxed. Obviously you get a bit nervous when you come into it. I think just dealing with the situations and everything becomes a bit more natural, and you know what's expected of you over a weekend."

One thing that possibly worked to his advantage was the package of changes introduced for 2011. Drivers with years of Bridgestone knowledge had to start afresh with the switch of tyres to Pirelli.

"I couldn't say if that's helped or not helped. You only drive the equipment that's available. People say that their style doesn't suit a certain tyre... I think being how you are on the tyres over a race distance does help, sometimes that's more car, and sometimes it depends on the track and how aggressive the tyres are from Pirelli."

He says he's enjoyed the challenge of working with the new tyres: "It's good - I think tyres should wear out. When you put a new set on you should see a difference, and it should be quite close on strategies. What are the others going to do? It's how good was your work on Friday and how much have you compromised your qualifying by your race. Even leading into the race, you're not confident that your strategy's going to work.

"In India we went on the numbers which we believed were right, and it didn't work out. But that's the risk you take when you're where we are on the grid, because you're just looking for those little points. As long as you can come out of it and say there were reasons behind that decision, and that's what led us that way."

Di Resta is clearly a man with a future, and it's no secret that he figures high on the list of men to watch at both McLaren and Mercedes. He remains something of an enigmatic character, always a little guarded in terms of what he says to the media, in stark contrast to his colourful cousin Dario Franchitti. It's just the way he is - and it's indicative of his professional approach to his job.

"It's about building trust. It's just the way I've learned over the years that you've got to be... I wouldn't say careful, it's just how much you want to let on, and how much that will compromise anything or any decision that anybody makes about you."