Paul di Resta was left frustrated after he failed to convert his best qualifying position, sixth, into points at his home grand prix.
After a good start it looked promising for the Scotsman, but the turning point came when he was called into the pits. The mechanics had readied Adrian Sutil’s tyres, an error the team have admitted was totally their fault.
That saw Di Resta drop back after he had to wait for the mistake to be corrected. He finally claimed 15th.
“It’s extremely disappointing to end my first British Grand Prix in P15,” he said. “I had a good first part of the race; we seemed quite competitive and I was able to hold on to Jenson [Button] as I concentrated on looking after my intermediate tyres.
“I think we made the switch to dry tyres at the right moment and we were running well,” he explained. “Then I got a call to come into the pits again, but when I got there the team were expecting Adrian, so there was obviously some confusion.
“It cost me quite a lot of time because the boys had to run back in the garage and fetch my tyres. That cost us about 25 seconds, which pretty much ended my chances.”
Whilst round nine may have been disappointing, the 25-year-old took promise from the cars competitiveness.
“It’s a frustrating race, but I think we should stay positive because the car has shown well this weekend and that gives me confidence going into the second part of the season.”
