Rafael Villagómez's Monte Carlo Weekend in his Words

For Rafael Villagómez, the Monte Carlo weekend did not go as planned but the Van Amersfoort Racing driver was still keen to put a positive perspective on things.

A couple of collisions with the wall hampered what he felt could have been a good weekend, but despite that he was already turning his attentions to coming out strong in the next round.

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FREE PRACTICE – P16

“Obviously, Practice was a little bit special, the first time at this track with an F2 car and it was in the rain. Obviously, the timings are a bit irrelevant because we know in Qualifying it is going to be dry but still super nice to drive in the rain.

"It's pretty difficult to drive around here in the rain to be honest, a bit trickier than in the dry, so it's a challenge. I think Free Practice was more to get the body and brain into a zone, pushing similar to what you do in Qualifying. In terms of marks and references there was nothing much we could learn.”

QUALIFYING - P21

“It just didn't go well. I just couldn't even make it past the first corner, I made a mistake. To be fair we had a good feel for Qualifying, looking in a good position but it's a shame, disappointing from my side because it's a mistake that you don't want to happen especially in the first lap.

“I'm frustrated because if it was maybe on the last lap okay but because it was the first lap, I am quite disappointed but in a way it's part of this sport, these kinds of things can happen, trying to push and I think you learn more from these hard moments than the easy moments.

WHAT WE LEARNED: The key talking points from our weekend in Monte Carlo

“I just lost the car, obviously when we came back after Qualifying, we just checked my lap against my teammates first lap, and I think it was very simila. On TV it looks like I'm arriving much quicker but when we saw the data it was not that much big of a step. So, it's a combination of the track and the tyre warmup.”

SPRINT RACE – P15

“It was just a train, so not much I can say. Everyone was just following each other but for me it was just about getting back confidence because we lost quite a lot yesterday. We saw on each lap that the first sector wasn't that good and then you start to pick up confidence.

“We saw how difficult it was to pick up positions, there was plenty of action of people trying to overtake but not much you can do around this track in the race. For sure you can gain some knowledge, you can gain a read on the balance, the tyre evolution of what's going to happen because at the end of the day the Feature Race is the one everyone prepares for. That's the main goal.

“For me it was more to get laps, to get that confidence back and see what we can do tomorrow. The car felt alright, we had a couple of issues that didn't help but I think the team has done an amazing job all weekend.”

FEATURE RACE - DNF

“Just not the best one to be honest, just disappointing, disappointed with myself because it's a mistake. I think looking at what the others did in terms of strategy we were on the right one for sure. The pace was alright, I think we were quite consistent compared to the cars around us because they started to drop a little bit, so it was okay. Like I said I think we were looking at a good position.”

RACE ANALYSIS: Just how did Zak O’Sullivan win from P15 in Monte Carlo?

UP NEXT – BARCELONA

“We have like a month until Barcelona, so I think I will spend a couple of days with the team, look over the past two weeks because we had Imola and Monaco. So, I think plenty of things learned as well, and just looking forward for the following races. We have Barcelona, and then more normal tracks.

“I think we are feeling confident about that. We had quite a good test, a good few days, so that's good. It's a track that everyone knows well. So, we will see how it is but it's always a difficult weekend.”