What Our Drivers Said
"That was a fantastic day for the team," Jarno said. "We weren't perfect, but kept calm throughout and did a great job of getting some really good results."
Qualifying at Silverstone could not have gone better. Managing the wet to dry conditions, Jarno led a Mercedes 1-2. Dani Bereznay was promoted to pole position with Opmeer serving a three-place grid penalty.
"It was our first 1-2 of the year in Qualifying, which was an amazing result under extremely difficult weather conditions," Bereznay said. "The team did a great job on our strategy and it worked in our favour scoring a pole and fastest lap."
Despite his grid penalty, Opmeer wasn't going to be denied in the race. He used the Soft tyre in the closing stages to take victory with Bereznay in third.
"Finishing P1 after a three-place grid penalty felt really good. I love driving at Silverstone and, even starting from P4, knew I had the pace to challenge for victory. Dani and I worked well together so it was great for us to get on the podium," Jarno added.
In contrast to Silverstone, qualifying at Spa proved a more challenging affair. As the track gripped up, an error in the team's run plans left both drivers unable to start their flying laps. As the vast majority of the field improved, Opmeer and Bereznay were left rueing a Q1 exit.
Neither driver let the frustrations of the earlier session hold them back though. On differing tyre strategies, both set about cutting through the field with urgency, precision, and skill. Several race-defining overtakes in the second stint netted P5 for Opmeer and P6 for Bereznay.
"We clearly made an error during qualifying, but we didn't let that affect us. We recovered well in the race and both Dani and I scored some decent points," Jarno said.
Dani added: "Spa is my favourite track and I was devastated after Qualifying. I have to admit, I wasn't hopeful for the race starting P17. But we never give up and chase every millisecond!
"We managed an incredible comeback to score some very important points at the finish."