Marcus Armstrong agrees there is little point sugar-coating a frustrating first half to his sophomore Formula 2 season.
The New Zealander is 14th in this year’s championship with only one podium to his name.
Poor luck with accidents, misjudged car set-ups, and small driver errors have littered Armstrong’s season to date.
Catching up with Velocity News, Armstrong says he and the DAMS team deserve more reward for their efforts.
“The first half of the season has been frustrating; I am not going to lie.
“As a package, myself and DAMS deserve a lot more trophies.
“I agree I have made a few mistakes, but we have been struck by misfortune a lot.
“I am always pushing for the top.
“With our potential and our form, we can get a lot more.”
Despite his tough first half of the year, Armstrong is quietly confident he can turn around his luck in the remaining rounds.
He says achieving the results his team desires begins with concentrating on the basics.
“We don’t have any pressure on us,” he said. “And we really didn’t have any pressure on us from the start anyway.
“Track time in F2 is quite limited. One bad session or if you waste a set of tyres can complicate your whole weekend.
“The focus now is on getting the simple things right.
“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We have got potential, and we need to string it all together.”
There have been some highlights among Armstrong’s season.
Reflecting on his favourite moment of the year so far, Armstrong pinpointed his bold overtake on Jehan Daruvala at Monaco on the final lap of the first sprint race.
The overtake guaranteed Armstrong reverse-grid pole and came, seemingly, out of the blue.
“That move in Monaco for P10,” he said when asked what the highlight of the year.
“It was cool overtaking on the last lap. It reminded me a bit of karting and being on the limit.
“Just racing on Monaco was a highlight, so too with Baku.
“Those smooth, grippy street circuits are so cool to race on.”
Armstrong claimed a podium in the second sprint race at Silverstone.
“Standing in front of those thousands of people at Silverstone was amazing.
“It was right before the F1 sprint race, so there were a lot of people.”
Armstrong’s next F2 race is at Monza on September 11-12.
