Interview
León happy with ‘pressure lap’ after tricky Qualifying in Melbourne
Noel León delivered a lap that kept him in contention for big points and a strong result on his debut weekend in FIA Formula 2, a performance he was very happy with.
The Campos Racing driver wound up fourth in Melbourne after a late improvement moved him into the top places when everyone was looking to make gains with one final lap.
Speaking after the session, the Mexican driver talked through his Qualifying and explained why the team’s strategy had been positive, even if left them facing a big fightback had it gone awry.
“I feel very good to be honest. It was a very difficult session. We went off sequence for a little bit of a different strategy. And at some point, I didn't know if we were going to get a good lap because there were a lot of red flags.
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“In the morning, there weren’t so many red flags. So we were thinking that in Qualifying it was going to be better, but it wasn’t. So, it was a bit difficult. And then with the fuel we were a bit on the edge.
“In the end we were very, very safe with the two red flags. But at some point, I needed to abort a push lap I was using to have a bit more margin. At the end we were very fast.
“I feel that we saved Qualifying, but there is room to be fighting for pole. So yeah, I'm very happy with that.”
León was fighting for the top spots throughout the session in what was an impressive debut Qualifying in the Championship.
He explained how the session ramped up and how it impacted his approach from inside the car.
“The pressure was very, very high to be honest. I knew that I had the pace because before that, I was fighting for P1. I was quite nervous, the pressure went up and I knew that I was not able to afford a mistake because of time. Then I got a decent lap that put me in P4, so I'm happy with that.
“In this championship the main thing is to be consistently in the top five, top ten, to fight for points. And on the first day we did it.
Looking ahead to the remainder of the weekend, a top 10 result in Qualifying leaves him in contention for points in both the Sprint and Feature Races.
The Campos driver said that he would be targeting strong points finishes in both, and that he will be eying up moves to go forward in both races this weekend to capitalise on the positive Qualifying.
“The plan is I have a very good team, a very good car, and I know we are able to do very good things. So, of course, no pressure to rush everything at once, but we'll try to go forward.
“In the end I got a decent lap, which put us in P4, and that's the most important thing. So we have a really good starting position for both races.”