Persberichten - First week disappointing

First week disappointing

After the first week, things are a bit sad at team Steegs. After a very promising qualification in 6th position, we thought it would be a great week, but things went downhill pretty fast.

In the sprint race in Melbourne things were looking pretty good, Tobias was racing in 5th position, but due to the weather conditions, he decided to swap his tires to wets, which ended up costing him 6 positions to finish 11th.

And if that was not enough, the feature race was even worse.
After a few small mistakes in the early laps, he was going pretty well sitting in 8th position. In the 16th lap he started making a few more mistakes, probably losing focus. And then early in the 17th lap, he just lost control and crashed out of the race.

Back in the pits we noticed he was very angry at himself, kicking the car, and completely ignoring his managers calming words. Once Tobias was a bit cooled down, he accepted to speak to us:

Me: Tobias, first of all, I'm very sorry things haven't worked out for you this week, tell me what happened.

Tobias: I felt great early this week. A new season, looking back at last season, I thought I had it, I thought I knew what needed to be done, boy was I wrong. You know, when the qualification started, I never thought I would be able to compete with these great racers in the F3 Oceania Series, they're all top blokes and all have promising careers. Yet I finished the Q in 6th position. So I was feeling it man. Both happiness and pressure. I thought now is the time to prove it. And I failed. I just put too much pressure on myself.

Me: Tell me what happened in the sprint race, why did you decide to switch tires?

Tobias: We weren't exactly sure what the weather was going to do. The forecast showed both sunshine and light rain. Halfway through the race the rain picked up a bit, and I felt the back of the car sliding in corners, so I decided to go in. As soon as I was back on the track, the rain stopped again, which ended up costing me many positions in the field.

Me: Very sad indeed, but not the end of the world. What about the feature race?

Tobias: I needed to make up for my rookie mistake regarding the tires. So I was pushing myself a bit harder than usual. I made some good time getting back to 8th position. I spoke to my manager on the radio, and he told me to hold this position for the rest of the race. But it wasn't good enough for me. I wanted to get back to 6th and try to take a top 5 spot. So I pushed my limits even further. That's when I started making mistakes. In lap 16 I had a good opportunity to overtake, but I left it too late. I got frustrated and as soon as I got closer to the car in front of me, I lost all sight of the track, all I saw was that car. And that's when I lost control and crashed. Own fault!

Me: I hope you'll find a way to deal with situations like that in the future, you're a joy to watch, and keep in mind, the season is still young. There's still 9 more weeks of racing to go. And we'll be cheering for you mate.

Tobias: Yeah I'm already talking to my manager René about how to control my anger in these situations. But thank you for your support, I appreciate it. Say hi to the wife and kids for me.

As you see, a very promising young guy, but still a lot to learn, but we've got faith in this kid!