Interviews by Sergio Álvarez; spiritual guidance by Diego Merino.
FIA Formula 2, Zandvoort, Friday, Drugovich on his Dutch pole.
“I think setup-wise we are kind of in the same (place) as the beginning of the year. We just settled down and put everything together. Yeah, no tricks.”
FIA Formula 2, Zandvoort, Friday: Drugovich, Doohan, Sargeant on not making any additional attempts with the Red Flag situation.
Drugovich: “I extracted whatever I had at that moment and the second lap that I did – I didn’t have anything else. If the others improved, I couldn’t improve. For me it was fine.”
Doohan: “I had a strange feeling on the second set (of tyres) so we did consider to go back to the first set, even if it was used and two laps old. I thought maybe we could do a better job. In the end, I wasn’t really gonna improve. It’s just a chance for risk, for something to happen so we decided to stay in the pits.”
Sargeant: “Yeah, I think I was pretty certain that everyone used all the tyres that they had available. But at the end of the day there’s nothing you can do at that point.”
FIA Formula 2, Zandvoort, Saturday: Hauger, Armstrong, Novalak on undercuts in the Feature Race based on the front tyres overheating in traffic.
Hauger: “Obviously it’s not easy to stay behind and do a move around there. Exiting the pits on cold tyres it’s probably not going to be easy getting the temp in with such a short lap. So it’s going to be interesting to see if it’s going to be happening a bit more tomorrow than today.”
Armstrong: “As today, the first lap will be important and then, I guess, depending on what strategy you’re on, it will be about trying to maximize the strategy, really. And try and win positions in the pit lane because it certainly isn’t easy to overtake out on track. Even if the guy has hot tyres and another guy cold tyres, for example, out of the pit lane, I don’t know if you can actually overtake through Sector 2. It’s just gonna be about strategy and not killing tyres I think.”
Novalak: “To be honest, the undercut was extremely powerful in Spa because Doohan just managed to obviously overtake Drugovich doing that. From my side, it’s an extremely short lap (in Zandvoort) so the moment you box and exit on cold tyres, you don’t have long to get up to speed. The guy pitting in front of you is the following lap so I still think it’s gonna be difficult. The biggest likelihood of seeing big moves on track will just be going on alternative strategy, especially for me trying to do something different and seeing if it works out and make a few positions that way.”
FIA Formula 2, Zandvoort, Saturday: Hauger, Armstrong, Novalak on their physio programme in/after Zandvoort.
Armstrong: “I think we’re quite used to it now but just make sure we’re well hydrated and have a good sleep. It’s always difficult to have a good sleep on a Saturday night, seeing as though we have to wake up very early tomorrow. I think just hydration and early to bed, not too much analyzing the data, that would be the ideal preparation for tomorrow.”
Novalak: “Yes, I head to bed quite soon. I mean I am pretty tired, it’s been a long race and so we need to recover. Obviously maybe a massage quickly on the shoulders to get ready for tomorrow, stay hydrated. Yeah, just nice and early tomorrow, ready to go again.”
Hauger: “I’m recharged already to be fair! Ah no, have a good shower. A Nice dinner. Sleep and go again.”
FIA Formula 2, Zandvoort, Sunday, Verschoor on Doohan, SC restarts and should potential penalties hurt less in this case.
“I want the points for the team.I don’t want a penalty and I think there are other things to look at. I really don’t think I could’ve done much but I also understand that I destroyed Jack’s race. Stewards will take a decision but on the other hand I agree with you. I mean I did what I could, it was a small mistake but for the rest I did a very good race so that will be in people’s minds.”
FIA Formula 2, Zandvoort, Sunday, Drugovich on his Dutch Feature Race win and F2’s own little Mugello-gate.
“To be fair, it’s quite similar as it’s always been. Drivers can’t change (speed) that much, I think only P1 is the one that really can change something. The only thing they need to do is one go, and if you go you go. That’s it. It’s not a massive difference.”
Please find full transcript below.
FIA Formula 2, Zandvoort, Dutch GP, Friday Qualifying
Q: “Felipe, have you found a sweet spot with the car to have achieved two consecutive pole positions? Perhaps, you could share your thoughts with us?”
Drugovich (P1): “I think setup-wise we are kind of in the same (place) as the beginning of the year. We just settled down and put everything together. Yeah, no tricks.”
Q: “How safe did you feel about keeping your positions after the (second) Red Flag period was over? You didn’t do any addition flying laps.”
Drugovich (P1): “I think, to be fair, I did extract (from the car and myself) whatever I had at that moment and the second lap that I did I didn’t have anything else so if the others improved, I couldn’t improve. For me it was fine.”
Doohan (P2): “We’d all used kinda our two laps on the second set (of tyres), I had a strange feeling on the second set so we did consider to go back to the first set, even though it was used and two laps old. I thought maybe we could do a better job on them but in the end no one was really going to improve and it’s just a chance for risk or something to happen so we decided to stay in the pits.”
Sargeant (P3): “I think I was pretty certain that everyone used all the tyres that they had available but at the end of the day there’s nothing you can do at that point.”
FIA Formula 2, Zandvoort, Dutch GP, Saturday, Sprint Race
Q: “With the front tyre overheating when you get within a second of a driver in front, do you think undercuts are going to be the only way to move a position in the Feature Race?”
Armstrong (P1): “As today, I think the first lap will be important and then I guess depending on what strategy you’re on, I guess it will just be about trying to maximize the strategy really and try and win positions in the pit lane because it certainly isn’t easy to overtake out on track, even if the guy has hot tyres and another guy cold tyres, for example, out of the pit lane, I don’t know if you can actually overtake through Sector 2. It’s just going to be about stategy and not killing tyres I think.”
Novalak (P2): “To be honest, it was extremely powerful in Spa because Jack just managed to obviously overtake Felipe doing that. I think from my side, obviously, it’s an extremely short lap so the moment you box and exit on cold tyres you don’t really have long to sort of get up to speed and obviously the guy pitting in front of you is (pitting) the following lap so I still think it’s going to be difficult to… I think the biggest likelihood of seeing big moves on track will just be going on the alternative strategy, especially for me, trying to do something different and seeing if it works out and make a few positions that way.”
Hauger (P3): “I mean, the same (as Novalak and Armstrong). Obviously it’s not really easy to stay behind and do a move around there. As well, exiting the pits on cold tyres it’s probably not going to be easy getting the temp in with such a short lap. So it’s going to be interesting to see if it’s going to be happening a bit more tomorrow than today.”
Q: “A lot of the drivers are saying that this particular circuit is quite demanding physically, so what are you going to do with your physios in order to recover fully for tomorrow’s Feature Race?”
Armstrong (P1): “Um, I think we’re quite used to it now but just make sure that we’re well hydrated and have a good sleep. It’s always difficult to have a good sleep on the Sunday night, seeing as though we have to wake up very early tomorrow. I think just hydration and early to bed, not too much analyzing the data. That would be the ideal preparation for tomorrow.”
Novalak (P2): “Yes, I’m here to be honest. I head to bed quite soon, I mean I am pretty tired. It’s been a long race so we need to recover. Obviously maybe a massage quickly on the shoulders to get ready for tomorrow, stay hydrated, as Marcus said and yeah, just nice and early tomorrow ready to go again.”
Hauger (P3): “Yeah, I’m recharged already to be fair so… No, I mean, have a good shower, a nice dinner and sleep and go again.”
FIA Formula 2, Zandvoort, Dutch GP, Sunday, Feature Race
Q: “In the light of today’s pile-up at the restart, how would you rate driving standards during Safety Car periods and on restarts in Formula 2? How drivers brake, accelerate, how they behave.”
Drugovich (P1): “To be fair, it’s quite similar as it’s always been. Drivers can’t change (speed) that much, I think only P1 is the one that really can change something. The only thing they need to do is one go, and if you go you go. That’s it. It’s not a massive difference.”
Verschoor (P2): “I also don’t think that driving standards have anything to do with it. I think the issue is if you go so late it’s just… everybody thinks you’re going and then like they go and they don’t. For me there’s nothing more to add.”
Iwasa (P3): “Also for me, I’ve no idea. I think for sure even if I was the top of the Safety Car run, I think I’d do some brake warm-up and then this brake warm-up would create quite big delta time to the end of the queue so then it would be getting bigger and bigger to the end of the queue. I think it’s a difficult problem.”
Q: “In case you get a penalty for causing the collision with Doohan at the restart, will it hurt you less to potentially lose this podium and P2?”
Verschoor (P2): “I want the points for the team.I don’t want a penalty and I think there are other things to look at. I really don’t think I could’ve done much but I also understand that I destroyed Jack’s race. Stewards will take a decision but on the other hand I agree with you. I mean I did what I could, it was a small mistake but for the rest I think I did a very good race so that will be in people’s minds.”
FIA Formula 3, Zandvoort, Dutch GP, Friday Qualifying
Q: “Guys, how challening will it be to overtake here in both races, especially in the Sprint Race? What are your thoughts?”
Jak Crawford: “It will be difficult to overtake, for sure. We saw last year in the races it was difficult. We are on the medium compound this year which is softer than the hard we were on last year so hopefully there’s more degradation and it will create some more interesting racing.”
Zane Maloney: “Yes, of course, it’s going to be very difficult to overtake. I drove here in (Formula) Regional last year and it was almost impossible (to overtake) so hopefully the DRS helps a little bit and I’m sure if the wind is high we can at least have some overtaking and obviously on lap 1 in Turn 3 it will be quite hectic so we’ll see.”
Victor Martins: “The same: I will say that the wind will make a big difference there, from the race experience I have from last year. But in the end, I think we are on medium (tyre compound), maybe we will have more deg, we’ll have to analyze and see that tomorrow. And also from what I have seen last year, I was quite surprised about how we could follow the car in front and be quite close into the last corner to get the DRS. I think it will be down to how the DRS will be powerful tomorrow.”
“Well, of course, my job is to just do the best job possible on track and I’ll continue to do that. My dream is Formula 1 but no (I’m not talking to anybody in F1), we just need to do a good job until we get the chance.”
Zane Maloney
Q: “Zane, it’s clearly that you’re on the up and up in this FIA F3 Championship so could you please tell us if you’re looking into becoming a part of an F1 Driver Academy or possibly some kind of affiliation?”
Zane Maloney: “Well, of course, my job is to just do the best job possible on track and I’ll continue to do that. My dream is Formula 1 but no (I’m not talking to anybody in F1), we just need to do a good job until we get the chance.
FIA Formula 3, Zandvoort, Dutch GP, Saturday, Sprint Race
Q: “It looks like your tyres were good enough for the fastest lap closer to the end of the race so how does this discovery affect your Feature Race in terms of tyre managent and tyre life?”
Caio Collet: “The Feature Race is a little bit longer and also starting at the back (P9) it makes things a little bit more difficult. Tomorrow I think I will be in the dirty air the whole race, it’s the opposite of today when you have a clean race track for yourself. You can manage the tyres, you can push when you want. It’s a little bit of a different approach. I was quite happy that the car was really good today. We just need to make sure we do the right step when I’m in the dirty air tomorrow to do a few overtakes.”
Q: “Would you say yes to implementing the extended DRS zone up until the final banking corner that was being considered for F1?”
Zak O’Sullivan: “I think the short answer is no. I don’t think it will be flat out for us around the last corner so it will be pretty dangerous. Maybe in qualifying I might be flat but I don’t think it’s worth the risk. F1 cars have far more downforce.”
Caio Collet: “Maybe yes but I wasn’t going to be the first one to try (that), to be honest. But I think we need to test. I mean I don’t really know if, as Zak (O’Sullivan) said, it’s going to be flat for us like it’s for F1.”
Juan Manuel Correa: “Yeah, I think definitely not! Probably not even in quali and in the races there will be crashes there because we don’t have as much downforce so it’s impossible for us (in F3).”
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