Paul Di Resta feels his latest points haul has provided him with the perfect tonic ahead of his home race later this month.
From a position of anger and despair after qualifying when another mistake by the Silverstone-based Force India team resulted in Di Resta starting from 17th for the Canadian Grand Prix, the team adopted an aggressive strategy to propel the Scot up the field.
Opting for a one-stop plan, Di Resta ran for a remarkable 56 laps on his opening set of medium-compound Pirelli tyres, the longest stint of any driver on any rubber used this season.
Come the conclusion to the 70-lap race at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Di Resta finished a superb seventh and in the points for the sixth race out of seven this campaign.
With 34 points to his name, the 26-year-old already has more than in his debut season of 2011, and is only 12 behind his total from last year.
Ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on June 30, Di Resta said: “This was a massive result given the unlucky circumstances we have had over the last two grands prix.
“On reflection our car should have been one position up ahead of the Toro Rosso (of Jean-Eric Vergne) because there were three teams out there (Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes) in a league of their own.
“So we missed out by a position, but the safer approach at the end was not to pressure Vergne and bank the points.
“We’ll now look to build on this and try and get three consecutive good days at the British Grand Prix, like we did in Bahrain (where he finished fourth).
“If we can do that we can have a big impact.
“Overall, this result is perfect timing, and more points on the board to keep up my record as well.”
The result and the performance at least allowed the team and Di Resta to put behind them his harsh comments in the wake of qualifying on Saturday.
Di Resta pointed an accusing finger at the team for failing to get him out of Q1, as had been the case in Monaco two weeks previously where he also started 17th.
Di Resta was adamant there had been no hard feelings.
He said: “It was taken constructively. Everybody in the team felt the same way.
“The person who made the mistake apologised, and I’m fully supportive of that.
“It’s just unfortunate it happened two weeks in a row, which is where the anger was.
“Looking back I don’t think I was too harsh.
“When you work with the team so closely it’s good to have that heat because you need to show your emotion.
“If I’d twice made a mistake I’d be kicking myself, and the team would come down hard on me, and rightly so.
“But we went out there, regrouped, showed we can do it, and as far as my relationship with the team is concerned, it’s still good.”