Interview
Lloyd rejuvenated by podium return in Singapore as she outlines approach for season finale
In a race ultimately decided by a single strategy call, Ella Lloyd made the right choice as the McLaren driver claimed her fifth podium of the campaign, promoting her to the top three in the Standings.
The Welsh racer was close to taking P4 in Race 1 in Singapore, but she dropped back to seventh place with a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, leaving her keen to achieve a better result in Race 2.
Starting on the second row with Chloe Chambers, Lloyd pulled off a great getaway and got stuck into a battle for P3, which Kick Sauber’s Emma Felbermayr also joined on the opening lap. After several corners of driving three-wide, the 20-year-old came out ahead and maintained her spot for the rest of the race.
“I’m really happy,” she reflected. “I knew that I needed to get a good start – a better one than yesterday – and I did that. I took P3 going into Turn 1 and just held my position really.
“I think we struggled a little bit for pace but it still wasn’t too bad. Then obviously it rained which mixed it up quite a lot. It was just all about trying to stay on track and not go flying off.
“The Safety Car came out and then it was just that one last lap where I needed to keep it on track. That was my aim.”
Some competitors, including Chambers, elected to pit for wet tyres when the rain started to fall in the hope that it would intensify and they would gain an advantage over those who remained on slick tyres.
Alongside the other podium finishers Maya Weug and Doriane Pin, Lloyd stayed out and managed the challenging conditions, which proved to be the correct call as Chambers had dropped back to P11 by the time the chequered flag fell as she was unable to recover the positions lost by pitting.
“I was just keeping them really updated about the weather and how wet it was,” Lloyd said when asked about what conversations she had with her team. “I think we had three laps left or something and it was just so pointless to box.
“You’re going to drop all the way to the back and you didn’t have enough time. If it was an F1 race then fair enough, but it’s not. We only had that one lap at the end so we would have lost too much. It was a good decision to stay out.”
The result sees Lloyd leapfrog Chambers in the Drivers’ Standings and take third with 101 points, just two more than the Red Bull Ford driver with one round left to contest in Las Vegas.
Outlining her mindset ahead of the season finale, she said: “Just continue doing what I’m doing. I think that’s all I can do really, just stay consistent. It’s going to be a new circuit for everyone so I’ll see how it pans out. I’m going to be prepping hard and doing everything that I can to be at the top.”