John N
Thoughts from Doohan, Vips, and Vesti
FIA Formula 2: Congratulations to the poleman of today’s Qualifying session here in Barcelona, Jack Doohan for Virtuosi Racing; in second place, we have Juri Vips for Hitech Grand Prix, and in third place, we have Frederik Vesti for ART Grand Prix. Starting with you, Jack, it’s your second pole position of the 2022 season. It was a busy session, especially towards the end; how was it from the car?
Jack Doohan: It was an interesting session. A lot of people on different strategies. It was almost split into 33.3% for the grid doing either two and two, or two and one, or one and one in the gap, or together and in the gap. Everyone was doing a different strategy, so it isn’t easy to know where you were, but I felt comfortable on both runs just on single pushes. Kind of like in Bahrain, we switched the strategy around, and it worked out quite ok. Grip levels are not where they were in testing. I think it’s eight tenths off where I was in testing, but a lot more temp here, and the track is greasy and a little more challenging to drive. But it was a clean lap, I wouldn’t say it was a mega lap, but it was not the way to get pole.
FIA Formula 2: It’s a second pole position, a great result. However, we heard the team radio at the end of this session, and you didn’t celebrate that much. Can you explain why that is?
Doohan: Well, I’ve qualified in the top three for the past five races and haven’t transferred into many points. So definitely trying to stay mellow as there’s a long weekend ahead, and I need to finish the job.
FIA Formula 2: Starting tomorrow, you will be P10 in the reverse grid, we know that it’s a very technical track, and it’s hot out there. What can you expect starting from this position?
Doohan: It’s a session to learn as much as we can about the conditions come Sunday, even though it will be at a different time of the day. It will be important to learn about the hard tire, and if we can pick up a few points on doing so, that’ll be amazing. I want to stay out of trouble or clean and see how we can evolve.
FIA Formula 2: Thank you very much, Jack; good job today. Jüri, it’s been a busy day for you so far. It’s another strong result, but you did mention that it was quite difficult for you to adapt from the F1 car to the F2 car, so can you tell us how it was?
Jüri Vips: I did only one push on each set of tires. So yeah, I was just lost on the first lap I did on the first set of tires. I think I was like 1.2 seconds off Jack or something like 1.1 off Jack. He was the reference on the first set. But then I put it all together on the second set. It was very nerve-wracking because you see the top ten, and even after I finished my lap, I wasn’t there. I saw a lot of people jump up there, so I knew I was in the bottom 15, but I was last when I started my lap. During that last lap, everything felt natural again felt normal. It was all pretty good. There were a few little things that we could improve here and there, but generally, it was a clean lap, and it merited us a front-row today, so very happy with that.
FIA Formula 2: Once again, Hitech has the pace during Qualifying. What did that tell you for the race tomorrow starting from P9 and the reverse grid?
Vips: Well, tomorrow, the approach is very aggressive because there are not many points in the Sprint Race, and starting from where I am, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to be patient and wait around. So I’ll be going for moves, and I’ll be quite aggressive tomorrow. But then my problem and Jack’s problem this year are that we’ve been very, very strong in Qualifying, but in the Feature Races, I need to take a step down. F2 will always be hectic, and Pourchaire’s now won two Feature Races with not having a good pace in the race but just having a clean race and surviving it. So that’s going to be the objective in the Feature Race. I’ve completely changed my mentality after the mistake in Imola, and we’ll hope it works.
FIA Formula 2: Can you rewind and talk about FP1? That must have been an incredible experience. Can you tell us a bit about it?
Vips: It was just amazing. As a racing driver, you always want more, so I wish I could have done a push lap, but unfortunately, I had a program to go through where I couldn’t push. But the whole experience was just amazing. When your engineer comes on the radio like ‘Hamilton ahead’ or ‘Hamilton 3 seconds behind’ and names like this that you see on TV your whole life when you’re growing up and suddenly you’re in a session with them, it feels amazing. I’ve driven an F1 car before, and the first time is amazing as well, but taking part in a session in the F1 weekend. It was the next step that felt good.
FIA Formula 2: Congratulations for today and good luck for tomorrow. Frederik joins us for the first time in a Qualifying press conference. Can you tell us how it was from the car?
Frederik Vesti: I’m happy with today’s Qualifying. The last three Qualifyings in Bahrain, Jeddah, and Imola have been tough to get used to the soft tire. It’s been challenging, but I’ve gone through a lot of work with the team and a lot of work with myself to be where I am today. I’ve been thrilled since I did the result! Now I’m looking forward to the races.
FIA Formula 2: It’s been quite an eventful end today’s session. What makes the difference for you to get to third position?
Vesti: I think, first of all, the ART car was strong. It’s been good today in Qualifying. After the first run, there was nothing for me to change on the car. I had some things definitely to change my driving, and that’s what I did, and I managed to put it together for the second run. When I crossed the line, I knew it was a good lap, and I knew it was good enough to be at the top. We are racing drivers when you finish a lap like that, bringing back so many great feelings.
FIA Formula 2: Tomorrow, you’ll be starting from P8 in the reverse grid. It will be the shortest race but also the hottest race. What can you hope to do from this starting position?
Vesti: It’s the first time I started within the top ten this year. P8 and I have the chance to do a good race. Tire management is going to be very important. It’s scorching here, and it’s not easy to manage tires in a race. So if we can make moves and score points tomorrow.
FIA Formula 2: Thank you very much, and good luck tomorrow.
