Rene Binder signs for Trident Motorsport

Rene Binder has decided to make his third attempt in the official F1 feeder series joining forces with Trident Motorsport. The 23-year-old Austrian completes the successful Italian squad as a team-mate of Sauber test and reserve driver Raffaele Marciello and feels honoured for being selected after the GP2 Post Season Tests in Abu Dhabi last November…

Q: Congratulations on your new GP2 contract! Trident finished 5th in the 2014 drivers championship and is amoung the most popular teams in the series…

Rene Binder: “Even if you can never rest on your laurels in GP2, I am pretty confident that this was the right step from a sporting point of view. Prior to the tests in November I thought I would at most have a fifty-fifty chance of getting the Trident seat, however, I jumped in that car and felt really well straight from the beginning. The testing results shouldn’t be overestimated but we still managed to post the 5th fastest lap time of day 2 and that was obviously the crutial factor.“

Q: Your new team mate will be former European F3 Champion Raffaele Marciello, who has just been annouced as a test and reserve driver for Sauber F1. And he is still one of Ferrari’s hopefuls in their driver academy…

Rene Binder: “Raffaele is definitely one of the quickest junior drivers and therefore one of the title contenders for the upcoming GP2 Series season. I hope, we will have a good level of cooperation so that I can grow as a driver.“

Q: Did you meanwhile have a chance to analyse why, despite a good start into the 2014 season, results fell far short of expectations?

Rene Binder: “In fact, it’s the little things that make the big difference in GP2 and while working with Trident during the Post Season Tests I have already learned a few things, that I had not considered yet. It’s mainly about managing the new tyres. It means, that if we have the same flow as in Abu Dhabi, we should be especially stronger in qualifying. By the way I have implemented some changes in training, but let’s wait and see what happens.“

Q: At Trident you have a competent team by your side, that even participates from a drivers point of view. How important is that kind of input for you?

Rene Binder.: “Extremely important. Looking back I was pretty frustrated after the last season and not sure, wheter a third season in GP2 would make sense or not. Then we went to the test and all of a sudden I had a former racing driver on the radio, who literally steered me and prepared me perfectly for each flying lap. Apart from that it was immensely helpful that my engineers provided a car that suits my driving style.“

Q: This years GP2 calendar covers 11 race weekends again, including your home race in Spielberg, but with a big question mark on the German Grand Prix…

Rene Binder: “I can’t imagine, that the car land Germany can live without a Grand Prix and therefore I hope for a solution, as both the Nürburgring and Hockenheim are among my favourite race tracks.“

ENIK Motorsport