After a difficult and chaotic weekend at the Canadian GP, Ella Lloyd’s success was marked by second-place finishes across all three races.
Yet, despite this notable feat, the driver confesses she does not yet believe she is in the running for the Championship.
Race 1 saw the McLaren driver convert a seventh-place grid start into a second-place finish behind Mercedes’ Doriane Pin. While in Race 2, Lloyd managed to move to the front of the pack before conceding to an overtake by teammate Emma Felbermayr.
P2 was “probably the most we could get”
In interviews, Ella Lloyd was asked whether she thought a win was probable in Race 2 at the Canadian GP; she stated, “It’s hard to tell. I think I was under quite a lot of pressure throughout the whole race”
“I was running P3 for quite a lot (of it) and then the Safety Car came out”, admitting, “I managed to get up to P2, but I think P2 was probably the most we could get”.
Lloyd went on to express her aims for the third and final race were not on the larger Championship but rather, honed in on maximising points in the race.
“I think the first two races have obviously given me a lot of points. I just want more points, really for the next race and not really looking at the Standings. If it (the title) comes to me, it comes to me. At the end of the day, it’s pointless chasing something, you’ll end up making mistakes.”
Lloyd’s insistence on a tunnel vision approach
In an eventful third Race that entailed multiple incidents and three safety cars, Lloyd persistently applied the pressure on lead driver Chambers but to no avail. All the same, she came away with a well-executed second-place finish.
Commenting on her potential to be in Championship contention, Lloyd said: “I don’t really think about it to be honest — it is what it is”.
She added concerning her performance across the weekend, “I think all three have been pretty good, I moved up in every race. (Race 3) That one was probably the easiest one.”
“I didn’t really have to do much, just get my head down and push forward”, she continued, “I couldn’t really overtake Chloe. I think I did have more pace than her, but struggled to overtake.”
The Safety Car’s influence on the outcome
Lloyd emphasised that despite having practised with the team, the remarkable number of Safety Car restarts hindered her attempts to challenge for the race lead.
“I think because there were so many Safety Cars, we broke the race up a bit and then I didn’t really have the opportunity,” said Lloyd. “Before the season started, the team brought a car to the track and we practised it.
“This weekend, I’ve had plenty of practice. The last one was pretty good, stuck with it so I’ve just got to keep improving everything.”
