Interviews by Sergio Álvarez; spiritual guidance and header image by Diego Merino.
FIA Formula 2, Thoughts of a Champion, Felipe Drugovich: FD on how participation in Euroformula Open (2018 champion) contributed to his driving/racing skills and on his job options outside motorsport in a parallel reality.
“I think back in 2018 we had two options: either to go to the Euroformula Open (the Spanish F3) or to go to the FIA F3, which was different back then, it was not together with F1. I think for financial reasons we chose to go down that path and in a way it was really good. I think it really helped me to grow as a driver because it was less pressure, I would say. And a lot of driving, we could drive a lot more than the normal FIA F3 in many of the European race tracks so I think that really hepled me to grow as a driver and have more experience.”
“I really like tennis! In the world of sports but other than that, I’ve got no idea! Something related to sports or maybe being in motorsport but yeah, I think probably a tennis player.”
Q: “How good are you at tennis?”
A: “Um, probably the opposite of driving!”
FIA Formula 2, Monza, Friday, Qualifying
Q: “We’ve seen quite a lot of mistakes and off-track moments today in Parabolica during the session. What’s your take on that and how was it for you?”
Doohan (P1): “It’s obviously quite a historic corner and it finishes the lap, that’s already quite a crazy lap. There’s time to be found and it’s a high-speed corner so everyone’s giving it full beans, especially trying to extract everything. It’s very easy for it to go wrong and especially now due to the fact that they brought the gravel closer to the exit of the track. So they’ve done that and it’s making erros more easy by not just having the run-off. Other than that, I can’t really comment on the their mistakes.”
Lawson (P2): “Similar comments. I think now that they’ve moved (gravel traps), in the past you could make a mistake. Obviously, it’s a very high-speed corner, as Jack (Doohan) said, finishing the lap so you could make a mistake in the past and just run out wide and sort of come back on and not lose anything. Now if you make a mistake, you obviously end up in the gravel. I guess it caught a couple of guys out today but in my opinion I quite like having the gravel like this, we had it in Spa as well. It reduces the risk of track limits, which can be really frustrating for us as drivers to have when you’re racing other cars or things like that. For me, it’s not such a bad thing.”
Armstrong (P3): “Yeah, I think it’s great, the last corner now because you can’t really take advantage of track limits or at least it’s not really in your mind. As well, I think for the latter part of the day the wind sort of changed a bit and it was a bit of a tailwind on entry. I don’t know about everyone else, but I felt like that was a factor as well.”
Q: “Liam, would you be fully ready to replace (the unwell) Pierre Gasly for the rest of the weekend in Formula 1? Did the team (AlphaTauri) tell you anything? What’s the latest on this?”
Lawson: “Yeah, basically, I guess I was made aware of the situation that he was unwell, but obviously he was able to recover for today and for me it didn’t really change anything. I was focused on the F2 weekend. If I had to drive (in F1), then I would have sort of dealt with the situation at the time but from where I was sitting there wasn’t too much chance (that I’d be in the AlphaTauri car). He was getting better during the week I think and by today he was (okay). Both FP sessions were quite good for them (AlphaTauri F1).”
FIA Formula 2, Monza, Saturday, Sprint Race
Q: “Frederik, after today’s race and Logan Sargeant’s start, do you feel it’s a bit of an issue to be starting P10 on that side of the grid?”
Vesti (P2): “Actually, I don’t know how good his start was but I can tell I had a lot of grip and I had a really good start. Jüri (Vips) behind me also had a good start. So maybe it’s an advantage? I’ll have to see tomorrow. We’ll try to do a good start anyway.”
FIA Formula 3, Thoughts of a Champion, Victor Martins on his Alpine Academy Driver links.
“If I have the chance to do Formula 1 Free Practice outing, I will go more to the factory to spend more time with the engineers, do some laps in the simulator. All of that, to be honest, I’m not thinking about it. For sure, I am the FIA F3 Champion but the step before (F1) is Formula 2. As I said, if I get the chance to do it (drive the Alpine A522), I will do that. Directly, I will say yes. But if I don’t get it, I will understand and know that I need to do things before. I don’t want to focus on that. If I do the job next year in the category that I’ll be in, I’ll have this chance next year, so first of all, I’m not focusing on that.”
FIA Formula 3, Monza, Friday, Qualifying
Q: “Question to the Trident boys: why do you think the team’s car has adapted so well to this track?”
Maloney (P2): “Like I’ve said so many times this year, it’s not been one or two tracks, it’s been at every track that the team has been giving us a great car. So no, for me it’s not really a surprise to be quick here. I knew that if I went out there and did a good job, at least I’d be close to the front. The team are doing an amazing job all season and hopefully we have some great race pace as well which I’m sure we will and it’s never over until it’s over.”
Stanek (P3): “Where the car is good? On the straights! We have a few horsepower more so it’s easy for us. No (issa yoke), we are strong at every track. I had the potential to be on pole in every quali this year or at least to be up there. The team is doing an amazing job. I’ll miss them because it’s my last year in the FIA F3, it will be hard on Sunday night to say bye to them but yeah, they have an amazing car, also the approach for every race, we do a lot of preparation, a lot of simulator. Stuff like that, so that really helps.”
Q: “Question to the Trident boys once again: are you free to race each other on Saturday and Sunday? Given that you still got an outside chance to win the drivers’ title and also for the team.”
Maloney (P2): Of course! We need to race clean because we’re team-mates and we have a job (to do) for the team as well. We’ve been free to race all year, obviously with respect to each other, which I think we’ve done all year and for me the respect between us has been very good – and also with Jonny (Edgar) so I don’t think there’s anything to change going into the last round. We still need to score all the points for the team so we don’t plan on going out there and doing anything stupid. We’re going to be respectful for each other and it comes down to, I guess, whoever is quickest and makes the best decisions during the race.”
Stanek (P3): “The approach for this race is the same, like all the other races from basically Round 1. We respect each other and we try not to crash or not to do stupid things. We will race hard but with (mutual) respect so not much more to add.”
FIA Formula 3, Monza, Saturday, Sprint Race
Q: “Oliver, early in the race you had a scary moment with, I think, Alatalo when he moved under braking. How did it feel from inside of the car?”
Bearman (P2): “From inside of the car it was super scary, to be honest. We’re doing almost 300 (kph) into this area of the track and the second I moved he moved directly in front of me. I almost crashed into the back of him at 300! That could’ve ended super badly. I don’t think it’s against the rules but it’s super, super dangerous. Luckily, we got away with it this time. In F2 and F1 they’re going much higher speeds and if something like this happens it’s not good. I dunno, I can look back at it and maybe laugh about it now but I was quite angry in the car actually because it wasn’t a good thing at all.”
Q: “Oliver, once again a question to you! We saw you drifting and sliding out of Lesmo 1, how did it affect your efforts to catch (eventual winner) Franco Colapinto?”
Bearman (P2): “Yeah, that was a big moment! I was pushing, it was my first lap through Lesmo in clean air and the balance changes massively from when you’re following a guy to when you have the clean air so I had a big moment there. In the end, it didn’t really change much because I wasn’t giving everything in those last laps because I thought I had one more. I don’t think it affected much in the end. I still managed to keep the rear tyres in the window after that moment so it was not changing much.”
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