For Alexander Rossi, third place would not do.
Having started race one of the Formula Renault 3.5 series from second on the grid, the American hassled Robert Wickens for much of the opening stages.
Yet the Fortec Motorsports driver was struggling to manage his rear tyres and fell away as the race reached its conclusion and was passed by Daniel Ricciardo into Village with just six laps to go.
Although now up to third in the Drivers standings, Rossi was clearly disgruntled after the race.
He said: “In the beginning I thought that we had the pace to win and I thought it would be a lot easier to overtake on this track, but I overdid it a bit behind Robert.
“I was just really using the rear tyres a lot and try to push him into a mistake and in it cost me in the end with Daniel.
“All three of us were quite far ahead of everyone else so I think that proves that we were on quite a good level.
After Wickens dominated today’s sprint race, Rossi is now facing a mammoth task if he is to overhaul his fellow North American.
In spite of Wickens increasing his lead, the 19 year old is as hungry as ever.
“Tomorrow is the pit stop race so obviously if I am struggling with the rear tyres I will just change them, but it is a bit frustrating as it is something we haven’t had a problem with so far this year.
“That’s the way it goes sometimes.
“At the end of the day, the best thing we could do is go up to P3 in the championship and we did that so we’ll just keep chipping away at it.
“We definitely have a good enough pace to beat Robert, though, and I’m sure it is going to be a good race tomorrow and Fortec is one of the top teams in terms of pit stops.”
Josh.
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