eso fue un factor para tener la carrera que tuvimos

[dmlthewowbagger]

Hi everyone, I'm translating a text about Sergio Perez and F1. It says:

Respecto a las difíciles condiciones que afrontó en el cierre de la competencia el mexicano comentó: "Le dije a mi equipo por radio que creía que con una vuelta más con esos neumáticos y habrían explotado. Al final teníamos vibraciones que eran extremadamente malas, pero creo que eso fue un factor para tener la carrera que tuvimos, porque debía cuidarlos desde el principio hasta el final con condiciones de secado".

I just couldn't understand the last sentence, can anybody help?

 

[Artifacs]

More or less, he says:

«In the end we had vibrations that were extremely bad, but I think that was a factor in having the race we had, because I had to take care of them from the beginning to the end with drying conditions.»

that = the vibrations.

in having the race we had = in the way the race ended up / turned out.

drying conditions = drying conditions of the road (by means of the car tires, I guess)

Cheers.

 

[dmlthewowbagger]

More or less, he says:

«In the end we had vibrations that were extremely bad, but I think that was a factor in having the race we had, because I had to take care of them from the beginning to the end with drying conditions.»

that = the vibrations.

in having the race we had = in the way the race ended up / turned out.

drying conditions = drying conditions of the road (by means of the car tires, I guess)

Cheers.

I guess I'm having trouble with semantics rather than grammatical stuff since I'm not familiar with F1 language. I can't understand whether he is saying vibration was one of the reasons he came in second since he had to take care of them till the end, or something else. What does he mean by saying "but I think that was a factor in having the race we had"? It would be okay if I were to translate into English but I'm not, so I'm trying to follow his chain of thought basically. Thanks a lot anyways!

I'm translating this text btw (in which he doesn't say anything else to explain what he means)
Brillante segundo lugar para Sergio Pérez en Estambul, su noveno podio en la F1

 

[fenixpollo]

What does he mean by saying "but I think that was a factor in having the race we had"?

He means what you think he means, as Artifacs says in his post above: the way the race ended.
but I think that was a factor in the race outcome that we experienced
but I think that was one of the reasons the race ended for us in the way that it did

I like Artifacs' translation, but I think "cuidarlos" has a different meaning in this instance.

In the end we had vibrations that were extremely bad, but I think that was a factor in having the race we had, because I had to keep an eye on them from start to finish with the drying conditions.

I think "drying conditions" is racing jargon used in F1 that means "the track was damp" or "the track was in the process of drying out."

 

[gengo]

I like Artifacs' translation, but I think "cuidarlos" has a different meaning in this instance.

In the end we had vibrations that were extremely bad, but I think that was a factor in having the race we had, because I had to keep an eye on them from start to finish with the drying conditions.

In a racing context, cuidar really does mean to take care of the tires. A driver whose tires are worn must drive differently. He can't push the car too hard in the turns, and has to baby the tires so that they don't get too hot or wear too fast, and thereby avoid a catastrophic loss of air pressure. It's not just keeping an eye on (= monitoring) them; it's treating them gently.

 

[dmlthewowbagger]

Thanks a lot to all of you!