Interview
‘I don’t think we did anything wrong’ – Chambers hopes to end F1 ACADEMY journey on a high after late disappointment in Singapore
Chloe Chambers saw her chance of a podium finish in Singapore fall away as she made an alternative strategy call in Race 2, but she is determined to have a stronger weekend for her final F1 ACADEMY round in Las Vegas.
While the Red Bull Ford driver has experienced some significant highs this season with six podiums, including a victory in Montreal Race 3, her last three rounds in the series have predominantly not gone to plan.
After taking P3 both in Qualifying and Race 1 in Singapore, things were looking good for Chambers in Race 2. On the opening lap, with Doriane Pin and Maya Weug speeding off in their fight for the lead, Chambers was passed by McLaren’s Ella Lloyd and dropped to fourth place.
At times, she was able to launch a challenge to reclaim the position, but she couldn’t get close enough and became one of the drivers who switched to wet tyres when the rain began to fall.
“It was a very disappointing race from my side, of course,” Chambers summarised. “ I think the right hand side of the grid had a little bit less grip than the left hand side, so both Maya and I on the right side had both lost out on one position each.
“I don’t think that there was much I could have done about the start, to be honest. I was getting closer and closer to be able to make a move on Ella and was hoping that we would be able to go to the end and then tyre degradation would come into play a bit and I would be able to capitalise on that and force her into a bit of a mistake.
“It started to rain. The team and I made the call to box and I think it was the right call. I don’t think we did anything wrong. We had a slow pitstop which I think cost us in the end. I ended up falling behind the Safety Car leaving the pitlane and I think that also affected things quite a bit. It just made it much harder for me to catch up to the rest of the pack for the restart.”
The decision to change tyres resulted in Chambers taking P11 at the chequered flag, with Lloyd also overtaking her for third place in the Drivers’ Standings.
Nevertheless, she readily admitted that she could have thought through the call a little more, especially with her Campos Racing teammate Alisha Palmowski similarly losing out by changing tyres.
Chambers explained: “This is one of the mistakes that I made in the race – I probably should have told them to hold on for just one more lap. Obviously at that point, the Safety Car hadn’t come out yet so we were hoping to be able to keep going and keep racing on green and I would be able to make up some time in the rain.
“I wasn’t 100% sure how much quicker the wet tyres would actually be because the track is very hot, so it was actually holding a lot of grip on the slick tyres even though it was wet. It was for sure slippery, but it was survivable on the slicks – that’s the thing that I was unsure about at the time.”
With drivers only permitted two compete in two seasons of F1 ACADEMY, Chambers has one round left to end her stint on a high, but she admitted that her main goal was a very simple one.
“I have been thinking about things in the lead up to Vegas,” she said. “The last three have just been really, really tough on us as a whole team – all three cars this weekend have just been up and down. I just want a good round to leave F1 ACADEMY with.”