Official 2013 season testing for the GP3 Series has now been completed. The last two days were staged at the Hungaroring near Budapest, a week ahead of the championship’s second round in Valencia.
The sessions went well in terms of both the performances we put in and the sheer work we are able to get done. As well as recording significant times in the first and third sessions, we prepared various components such as brake discs and pads for the whole season and concentrated on bedding in the mechanical components. For me personally, this was an invaluable test as I was able to practice various starts in difficult conditions. For example, on a damp track with dry-weather tyres or on a very wet track with rain tyres. Clearly, these were unusual situations that occur only rarely, but they helped me develop a different technique, to understand the movement of the car more rapidly. We established ourselves in the Top 10 of the overall standings for the two days.
I hope that the climate will be a little kinder in Spain next week. In certain sessions in Budapest my GP3 looked more like a canoe than a racing car.