Switzerland driver Sebastien Schneiter has said it’s taking the team ‘longer’ to get up to speed that ‘[they] hoped’ in light of Spain’s first event win in Los Angeles.
Speaking after racing in LA, Scheniter said the team were buoyed by Spain’s success - ‘it proves that it’s possible and we still believe in it’.
But when asked how long it takes a new team to ‘get up to speed’, Schneiter said ‘it depends’, but admitted ‘in our case, it is taking a bit longer than we hoped’.
However, ‘everyone has their own path’, he said, adding ‘we just have to keep working hard and it will come for sure’.
It comes after a ‘tough event’ for the Swiss in LA, with the team a 10-10-7-6-10 race record and 9th finish overall. However, the Swiss would have been beaten on points by Erik Heil’s Germany if the Germans hadn’t picked up a four-point penalty for hitting Switzerland on the start line of the fourth fleet race.
Reflecting on the second day of racing, Schneiter said the team hadn’t started well enough in the fifth fleet race. “It’s already hard when you’re in front, but when you’re behind it’s even harder with all of the disturbed air.”
Looking ahead to the next sail grand prix in Saint-Tropez, Schneiter remained upbeat. “It was a tough event, but the good thing is that we’ve done some hours and we have a lot of things to analyze to come back stronger in the next event.”
The 10-strong F50 fleet will next meet for battle for the France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez on September 9-11.
