Di Resta's 'home' hopesposted in F125 | 05 | 2011
BATHGATE'S PAUL DI RESTA will live the dream this weekend when he races on the tortuously tight streets of Monte Carlo in the Monaco Grand Prix. And the 25-year-old Scot (pictured walking the track today) has a detailed knowledge of the track; he's been living in the Principality since the beginning of the year.
"Moving to Monaco was definitely the right step for me," Di Resta, a proud Scot who wrestled with himself before the move to the South of France, said today. "I love being at home in Scotland, but you can't travel from there. We travel 30 weeks a year, so it's a good place to travel from, to relax and enjoy it. Then we also have the weather for training and my trainer also lives in Monaco.
"Being here helps me stay focused. I felt whenever I had time off it would be the right place to switch off. You're out of the way. So it was about the lifestyle more than anything else. That's what it was, a full lifestyle change. Formula 1 is a short life, so I definitely want to enjoy it and I just love being here."
And while Di Resta admits he can't wait to jump into his Force India racer tomorrow for Free Practice — unlike every other F1 grand prix, the Free Practice sessions take place on Thursday in Monaco — there is, understandably, a degree of apprehension as it is six years since he drove around the unforgiving streets.
"It's one I'm so looking forward to, in particular as it's a home grand prix bearing in mind I live there now," he continued. "It's going to be something special.
"Monaco is about using track time and building yourself up slowly, so hopefully that approach will work. But with the barriers so close, a different mentality is needed.
"I have raced here though in the past. I drove in the Euro F3 Series, so I have experience of driving with the walls and barriers so close. But that was six years ago and jumping into the F1 car is going to be totally different."
And the Scot is hoping the aerodynamic problems, which stopped the latest update being fitted to his race car for last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, have been corrected as he bids for the speed which will see him become a regular top 10 finisher.
"We came away from Spain feeling relatively happy, but clearly we need a bit of pace to make the next step and score points again," the Scot, who still finished an impressive 12th in Barcelona, said.
"The team have done work on how the car was running with the new package, and they've been in the tunnel and seen the direction.
"Hopefully it is going to give us a bit more performance and we did see benefits in Spain — big benefits at certain points. But it still makes this weekend a difficult one to gauge.
"The race weekend at Monaco is perhaps the most demanding mentally simply because the margins for error are so, so small, their almost non-existent. An inch offline and that could be the end of the race. Having said that, I can't wait to jump in the car."
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Jim McGill