Interviews by Sergio Álvarez; spiritual guidance by Diego Merino.
FIA Formula 2, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Friday, Qualifying
Q: “Congratulations on your results today. Do you think that Formula 2 drivers who drove in F1’s Free Practice 1 (as part of ‘mandatory practice outings for rookies’ which included Lawson, Drugovich, Sargeant, Doohan) had more difficulty in adjusting back to F2 for quali given the difference in performance between the two categories?”
Ayumu Iwasa (pole position): “Yeah, I don’t know, I’m not sure. Just to have more track time. I think cars in F2 they’re quite different.”
Roy Nissany (P2): “Well, I’ve done this back in 2020 a couple of times and I don’t think it’s an advantage, nor a disadvantage. As a matter of fact, none of the FP1 drivers were on top today so it’s certainly not a big advantage. From what I remember in 2020, even for 2021, we tried to make sure that I will not have FP1 sessions in the same weekend because it was very much interfering in terms of comfort. You cannot have lunch, you have to rush from one session to another, you don’t have time to really maximize your FP1 experience with the team and you’re just touring between the categories. Personally, I prefer not to do it in the same weekend. I don’t think it’s a big advantage or a disadvantage.”
Théo Pourchaire (P3): “I clearly don’t think it’s a disadvantage to do an FP1 session before F2 quali, you just have more track time and you’re driving a faster car. So no, it’s not an issue, I’d say it’s even an advantage so it’s like this, it’s a lot (of driving), they did it but if they are behind us in quali it’s not because of that, it’s not because they drove in F1 before (F2).”
Q: “Ayumu, what a performance today! How do you rate this pole position lap among your Formula 2 pole position laps so far (that’s Hungary)?”
Ayumu Iwasa: “I think the lap was not bad today because I could improve quite a lot. I think I managed it quite well.”
FIA Formula 2, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Saturday, Sprint Race
Q: “Liam, you won one in Abu Dhabi today but do you think you could’ve handled the rolling start a bit better? We could see that Verschoor took off like a rocket and also Cordeel was hot and attempted to mount an attack on you.”
Liam Lawson (Winner): “I didn’t actually see that! Obviously I was concentrating on what was going on in front. I think it’s difficult and Verschoor timed it nicely. We were quite low in the revs and when we went I had quite a big engine stutter so the thing is it’s hard to follow through Sector 1 anyway so the gap that I had was the gap that I would have been even if I had a really good start because of the way the track is through Sector 1. I sort of just tried to stay within DRS for the first couple of laps and then basically when it opened up I was planning on trying to do something at that point.”
FIA Formula 2, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sunday, Feature Race
Q: “Felipe and Ayumu, can you tell us what was playing on your mind when you were getting ready for the restart at the end of the race after the VSC period?”
Ayumu Iwasa (Winner): “Yeah, actually, first of all, I was struggling with speed so y’know I wanted to have a Safety Car to win the race easily. The VSC was also helpful at the end of the race at one point but I think the last VSC was not so great (for me). I was managing the VSC timing and the tyre as well because I was feeling a little bit of limitation on the tyre. It was a really short VSC both times, I think it didn’t mean so much (to me) but I was just focusing on my job and then I think I could do it, also that’s why I could defend well. If we didn’t have a VSC, it would be a tougher race.”
Felipe Drugovich (P2): “The VSCs were quite short, I think there was not enough time to cool down that much the tyres but I did what I could to keep at least a little bit of temperature and also some pressure at him. Trying to be very close. The first restart I was quite pissed because y’know I was very close to him and I still had the delta on and it was ending. I had to brake just before it went green otherwise I would get a penalty and I lost a lot. I was further away than I was before the VSC. Which I was very pissed after that. And at the other attack I couldn’t make it but then there was a yellow flag. I was not so happy with the VSC. It is what it is.”
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