‘I have to do better’ - Granada reflects on frustrating Zandvoort weekend

Natalia Granada was left with mixed feelings about her Zandvoort race weekend after hitting the wall in the Reverse Grid Race and being unable to contend for a podium in the Feature Race.

Granada put in a lap time good enough for third in Qualifying and had high hopes for big points across both races. The Sephora driver lined up sixth for Saturday’s Reverse Grid Race, but a mistake on Lap 2 whilst battling Emma Felbermayr sent her into the barrier at Turn 3.

By contrast, the Feature Race initially started well for Granada, who went side-by-side with Alba Larsen into Turn 1. However, she had to slot in behind the Ferrari driver and was then squeezed off track by Nina Gademan at Turn 1, forcing her to concede third place at the next corner.

Granada then spent the majority of the race being chased by Emma Felbermayr, with the Sephora driver holding her ground to finish a distant fourth, three and a half seconds behind Gademan.

“It was not an easy start,” she admitted. “We struggled to get everything up to speed and we lost the position at the start, then time in the first opening laps, which were very difficult to recover.”

“Later on in the race we managed to recover maybe a little bit but not enough. Also, (we were) keeping Felbermayr behind during most of the race, so it’s not what we wanted.

“The lack of laps yesterday also limited us in knowledge and experience for today’s race, which is a shame from my side. I have to do better next time, so it's a shame not to take a better result and more points from this weekend, but we are making steps forward.”

READ MORE: Larsen delighted with double podium in Zandvoort but rues missed Feature Race victory

Zandvoort marked another milestone in Granada’ first season in single-seaters. Although she didn’t match the high of her debut podium in the Shanghai Reverse Grid Race, the Spaniard qualified inside the top three for the first time in the tricky wet-to-dry conditions and proved how much her racecraft has improved.

Moving up to ninth in the Standings, Granada's thoughts now turn to in-season testing in Navarra and Round 5’s visit to Austin. Taking advantage of the chance to get more mileage on the board, she is hoping her first trip Stateside can bring about another jump in performance.

“Right now, I’m just focused on what we can do better in testing in Navarra,” she explained. “Then what we can do in Austin. We can see that it's a big step forward from Silverstone in terms of results and pace.

“We are really fighting for these positions during the season, so we just need to keep this momentum and learn everything we can. We are still analysing everything that happened and everything we want to improve on together as a team for next time. I need to do better and we will.”

“I’m very excited. I think it will be another big opportunity like it was here in Zandvoort, so I’m looking forward to it and grabbing it with two hands.”