At the home of the Fomula 1 British Grand Prix, Lebanon’s Karl Massaad enjoyed one of his most consistent weekends of the year as the British F4 went to Silverstone.
On a shorter layout than that used by Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel earlier in the year, Karl still enjoyed some of the great corners including the high-speed Copse and the technical Brooklands and Luffield section.
The weekend began in mixed conditions on Friday with a dry morning and wet afternoon providing the chance for Massaad to gain some more experience.
11th and 8th in the two sessions certainly provided a good platform from which to move forward when the action got serious at Saturday.
And move forward the birthday boy as the newly turned 19-year-old talent took seventh on the grid for Race 1 later that day, the highest of the Double R Racing drivers.
Sadly a few errors, some storming recoveries and the lottery of a late rain storm all conspired against Massaad as he dropped just outside the points in 11th but was eager to make up for it on Sunday.
And that he would do in Race 2 producing a number of excellent overtakes in tricky conditions and running at a strong pace just shy of those at the front.
The payback for his hard work would be a gain of five places to claim sixth and more points for the Beirut-born racer.
Race 3 saw the second best times from qualifying form the grid as Karl lined up ninth with the aim of one more strong race to complete the weekend.
Despite a few hairy moments early, he was soon back on the overtaking trail moving up the order to as high as sixth once again. Unfortunately he would lose out to his charging teammate Lindus Lundqvist towards the end but still seventh place wrapped up a consistent and fun day’s racing.
“I learnt a lot from this weekend,” Karl commented later. “The weather was so variable it made the conditions difficult at times, especially on slicks in the heavy rain in Race 2!
“But I’m quite happy with how I coped with that and then today I really enjoyed the chance to pass plenty of cars and gain some good positions in both races.
“After the incidents at Rockingham, it was also good to have a clean weekend with no problems but the small errors from Race 1 were still frustrating.
“Time to end the year where it began at Brands Hatch. I’ll be going back there with more experience and more knowledge. Let’s end the season on a high!”
The final three races of Karl’s first season in British F4 will take place on the high-speed Grand Prix circuit at Brands Hatch on the weekend of Sept 29 – Oct 1.
