Life in GP3: Dino Zamparelli's column

Wow, what a first weekend in GP3!

In Race Two my tyres were in much worse shape. When you're fighting for every last inch in the middle of the pack, the tyres naturally go off more than if you're at the front by yourself. As a driver, it's difficult to actually race on these tyres. If you fight too much with the cars around you, you kill the tyre. One lock up, one slide or one wrong line through a corner and you start the ball rolling for your tyres to overheat at the rear and dispense all the grip onto the track. When you're fighting for that inch with another driver, a lock up, a slide or a slightly wrong line is just something that happens. In that case, it's almost better not to fight with the other driver. It's better to let the car go and do your own race and preserve the tyres. This is such an unnatural thing for a racing driver to do because all we want to do is race and not let anyone passed. As a driver, I just get on with it. I don't have an opinion on what it should or shouldn't be - I just look at the situation and keep those tyres alive as best I can, whilst still racing as hard as possible. Talking of racing hard, driving standards has once again been called into question after the GP2 race turned into wacky racers. There's one driver that stood out as driving very poorly, in my opinion (and from what I read, a fair few others agree). Johnny Cecotto decided to side swipe the Caterham car in race two, an incident I was sure he would get banned for. That sort of driving is outrageous. I'm sure that the driving standards will be raised in the next race at Monaco - especially with safety being paramount there. However, the standards in GP3 I thought were good. All drivers showed respect, from what I could see, and there wasn't anything that was worth talking about. On the flight back to Bristol I reflected on a weekend which wasn't what I was aiming for ultimately, but overall it was a positive one. I learned a great deal about GP3 as a whole, how it all works and what I need to do in the future. For me, all the pieces of the puzzle are there, I just have to put them together now if I want to start fighting for victories. The next GP3 race is at Valencia on the 15th June and I will be working harder than ever to ensure that I'm even fitter and even more prepared for that one. The motto that I love and live by is, "It's hard to beat somebody who doesn't give up". I'm even more determined and hungrier to be on top next time out. DZ Find more about Dino on his personal website and follow him on Twitter @DinoZamparelli