Motorsports Mondial

Photo: Estebaracing

Esteban Gutiérrez talks about his first season in the GP2 series.

Monterrey, Mexico – As a year of learning and progress, is how Mexican driver Esteban Gutierrez rates 2011, when he enrolled for the first time in the GP2 Series with team Lotus ART and attended F1 events as a reserve driver for Sauber F1 Team.

Finally at home, as both championships have finished their seasons, Gutierrez reflects on this year to keep the good things and learn from bad experiences to try and avoid them next time around.

“For the most part I keep all the experience gained from the competitiveness of this series, it really was a pleasure and a privilege to be able to race at such high level to improve my abilities and knowledge as a driver for the future.

“On the other hand this has been a year I enjoyed so much. I had great times by overtaking other drivers to climb up from the back of the grid, or from the middle of it, and to be able to fight at the front. All of that has helped me grow and develop my competitiveness”, said the driver.

Esteban recognized that things did not result quite as they had planned at the beginning of the year in the F1 feeder series, as they intended to be more consistent but a number of situations prevented them from achieving the goal.

“My objective was to be more consistent but we really did not achieve those results for one reason or another. In the end the experience of this consistency should help us and we expect to be better next year.

“We realized that we have to keep our head cool at all times and I think that was the foundation to keep making progress and to improve the basics and the driving, as we indeed improved even though that does not show on the results”, he remarked.

On a different note, the 20-year-old driver had the opportunity to drive the Sauber C30-Ferrari car and to join team Sauber in the F1 events, which leaves him with great learning and professional growth.

“It has been a terrific opportunity to attend all the F1 events. I have been able to analyze the races from a different perspective. It is a very intense atmosphere where a lot of adaptation is needed, and I think that being there as a reserve driver and living every little thing that happens has given me a new advantage for my evolution during the race, for my learning and adaptation. I hope I can be one of their official drivers in the future.

“Working with the team, getting to know the work that every person does, and get a better knowledge of how a Formula 1 team works is an opportunity that I enjoyed very much and that I will remember for the rest of my life, not only in my professional career but also in my personal life”, explained Gutierrez.

 Esteban will spend Christmas and New Year days with his family in Monterrey, and he values this time very much, as he is not with them during the year because of the many responsibilities that he has as a driver.

“Being with my family is the most important thing; I will use this time off to relax. We have the dinner planned and I intend to share this time with my family, as well as the Christmas presents and all the other things we do in Mexico.

“I value it very much (this time off), I’ve spent a lot of time traveling and you don’t get to be with your family, so being here with them now is very important to me personally”, he concluded.