Feature
Would You Rather with Clément Novalak
A cheeky chappie on the Formula 2 grid, Trident’s Clément Novalak is the latest driver to be put in the hot seat and make some very tough decisions…
Enjoying the summer break before he returns to action in Zandvoort, the Frenchman chats all about his love for sushi, timekeeping for interviews and why he’d choose to belt out an iconic Celine Dion song.
WEIGHTS OR CARDIO?
“Weights because cardio is too long. It’s prolonged pain, whereas weights are minimal. It’s hard, but it’s like 20 seconds maximum and cardio is like an hour.”
HOME OR MONACO GP VICTORY?
“Well, I don’t have a home race, so it’s going to be Monaco. I mean I did last year, but not anymore, so probably Monaco. It’s practically home! If I was to walk from any of the corners in Monaco, only about 2km, I’d probably be home. So generally speaking, it’s probably the closest thing you can get to a home race without it being a home race.”
UNDERSTEER OR OVERSTEER?
“Oversteer any day of the week. The thing is with understeer is that it’s just there, it’s very difficult to fix. Whereas if you have oversteer, you can mitigate it and it’s more fun to drive with an oversteering car and you’ve got the rear out (pretends to drive and laughs).”
GIVE UP YOUR FAVOURITE MEAL FOR LIFE OR EAT IT EVERYDAY FOR A YEAR?
“I’d give it up because I couldn’t eat the same thing everyday for a year. Sushi is just next level; it’s got to be good sushi. Japanese food in general, but sushi is my favourite and I couldn’t have sushi everyday for a year.”
HANDS FOR FEET OR FEET FOR HANDS?
“Hands for feet could be more practical I think because with feet for hands you couldn’t really do anything. It’d be difficult to drive with feet but I think pushing pedals you could do with your hands.”
FIRST TO ARRIVE OR LAST TO ARRIVE?
“First! Now that’s a bit of a problem with me. I feel terrible when I arrive late for something. Sometimes I am for media stuff, I tend to be extremely late. But let’s say I have an appointment; I’ll be five minutes early every time.”
TOO HOT OR TOO COLD? “Interesting, I think too cold. I prefer being a bit cold than hot because you can just put on a blanket.”
RACE SUIT THAT’S TOO BIG OR TOO SMALL?
“Now without getting into the anatomy of things, when it’s extremely tight it can be particularly painful. So, I’m going to go with the suit being larger.”
ROCK OR HIP HOP?
“That’s difficult actually. I’m going to go with hip hop because it’s something you can listen to quite easily. Rock, you need to be in that sort of vibe for, but I like rock too.”
KARAOKE OR DANCE OFF?
“So, I’m terrible at both! Both would probably be an extremely good video for YouTube, but my singing it’s pretty horrendous. I’d have to go for karaoke singing Celine Dion – maybe My Heart Will Go On or whatever it was from Titanic.”
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WIN THE INDY 500 OR THE 24 HOURS OF LE MANS?
“Indy 500, actually no I’d probably go for Le Mans because of the history. The Indy 500’s got a lot of history as well, but because Le Mans is European so I’ve watched it more. Indy’s cool because it’s ballsy, it’s like walls and speed.”
TELEPORTATION OR ABILITY TO READ PEOPLE’S MINDS?
“Teleport because then I wouldn’t have to do any travelling and that would cut a whole lot of time out of my year. Reading people’s minds? Sure, but it’s kind of interesting not knowing what someone’s thinking. Teleporting would be sweet because then it wouldn’t have taken me six hours to get here.”
OPTION PRIME OR PRIME OPTION?
“Prime option. I’m not going to divulge into why, but prime option.”
SHOEY OUT OF YOUR TEAMMATE’S SHOE OR YOUR BOSS’ SHOE?
“I feel like if I pick one or the other it’s just going to be extremely rude to the other person because basically, I’m just going to be calling them stinky (laughs). Probably my team manager’s because than would make Giacomo extremely happy.”
LATE-BRAKING DIVE DOWN THE INSIDE OR SWEEP ALL THE WAY AROUND THE OUTSIDE?
“Around the outside looks cool.”
WIN FROM POLE OR LAST?
“Win from last, it sticks in people’s minds. I mean it makes it harder but winning from last - you’re going to put in some moves, your race isn’t going to be long and I find that when you’re in the lead, the race feels a lot longer than it should be. Whereas if you’re a lot faster than everybody and overtaking people, it just goes by a lot quicker.”