Vesti’s Guest Column: Qualifying pace is back but still more to come

24 May 2022

Frederik Vesti was smiling from ear to ear during Round 4 in Barcelona. Overcoming a tough run of Qualifying performances, lining up on the Feature Race grid in P3 put him in the perfect position to score his first Formula 2 podium.

We handed the reigns over to the ART Grand Prix rookie for our fourth Guest Column of the season, where the Dane gives his thoughts on the good and bad moments, the lessons he’s learned and the reasons why he’s looking forward to taking on the challenge of Monte Carlo this weekend.

ONE GOOD POINT – QUALIFYING

It was the first sign of progression so far this year. I jumped from my best Qualifying in Imola in P16, to suddenly seeing myself in third place, which was a huge step forward and meant so much to me. A lot of hard work went into it – a lot of frustration as well. Then, with a good lap on the second run, to see it unfolding like that was amazing for both me and the team.

ONE BAD POINT – THE OPENING LAPS OF THE SPRINT RACE

I lost positions to (Jüri) Vips and (Jack) Doohan on the first and second laps, which was a bit unfortunate as I could have scored more points. I would say that was probably the most disappointing part of the weekend, as they were the guys I was going to fight on Sunday (in the Feature Race). Obviously, you don’t want to let those by on Saturday, but I understood what went wrong and I tried to attack even more on Sunday.

WHAT I LEARNED – CONSISTENCY IS KEY

I can do Qualifying – I haven’t lost it! I need to work really hard to understand F2, the tyres, what I need to do in order to produce a good Qualifying because it’s just so much easier to do a good weekend if you start at the front of the grid, no doubt. I need to be consistent in Qualifying and that’s what I learned even more this weekend.

FANS MAY HAVE MISSED – MERCEDES OWE ME DONUTS

Before the weekend, I made a bet with the Mercedes simulator guys in Brackley that if I put it in the top five in either Barcelona or Monaco - they were going to give me some donuts next time I’m in the sim. But if I didn’t, I was going to bring in donuts for them. Then I rock up in Barcelona and put it in P3, which means next time I go to Mercedes, there will be donuts! So that’s very nice and I’m looking forward to that.

NEXT UP – MONACO

I’m so excited! I went there in 2018 to watch the race, together with my friend, and it was an incredible experience. It was very surreal having watched racing on the streets of Monaco and now four years later, I’m in Formula 2 racing there.

Street circuits are very different to racing at a track like Barcelona, which we all know very well. It’s very challenging and it really takes a lot of courage and to be brave on a Qualifying lap - I’m looking forward to that. Having a good weekend in Barcelona definitely helped my confidence going into such a difficult round in Monaco. I’m looking forward to it and can’t wait till Thursday and Friday!