2022 Round 12 post-Feature Race press conference

Thoughts from Drugovich, Verschoor and Iwasa

FIA Formula 2: A very warm welcome to the top three finishers of the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race here at Zandvoort. In third place, Ayumu Iwasa for DAMS, in second place, Richard Verschoor for Trident and taking his fifth victory of the season, our winner and championship leader, Felipe Drugovich for MP Motorsport. Felipe, well done on a brilliantly judged race from pole position. How much pleasure did this one give you?

Felipe Drugovich: First of all, thank you. It's so great to be able to, first of all, get the job done, get the pole position, get the win and especially at the home race for the team. I really wanted to make sure I got it done today. We did it so yeah, I'm very happy. The car was awesome and I think we judged it perfectly, didn't take any risks so yeah, perfectly judged.

FIA Formula 2: The car was perfect, as you say, but there was pressure throughout. How do you deal with that pressure?

Drugovich: Well, this track, as we've seen yesterday is very difficult to overtake. For a few Turn 1s, I had a bit of pressure and they tried to attack a little bit, but it was fine. I think the car on the options wasn't ideal but then on the primes, it was very good. It was just bringing the car home and after the incident as well. Sorry to Jack, we were fighting, for sure he had a great pace but I think I was lucky enough to avoid the cars in front but anyway, I think we got the job done so I'm very happy.

FIA Formula 2: Certainly got the job done. Your first win since Monaco and you now have a huge lead in the Championship. You can clinch the title at Monza next weekend. Do you feel like you've now got one hand on the trophy?

Drugovich: I try not to think like that, I think we just need to keep doing whatever we're doing, it's working. I'm very grateful for this and hopefully, we can get the title there. I think now I'm in a position where I just can go for it and try to score more wins. As you said the first one since Monaco, it wasn't a great feeling that I was waiting for this win to come again. I had a lot of second places but never the win since Monaco so I'm very happy to be in this position and now I think we just have to keep pushing.

FIA Formula 2: Very well done to you. Richard will come to you now great job by you as well. You were driving a wounded car in those closing laps did that nose damage have an impact on performance?

Richard Verschoor: Well, first of all, I have to say sorry to Jack, it was definitely not my intention to hit him. I thought everybody was going and then we all slowed I locked all my wheels but I couldn't avoid it. It's not the way I want to finish second, anyway with the wing I don't think I really damaged it, it did feel like that the first lap but after that it was okay.

FIA Formula 2: Just talk us through the penultimate Safety Car restart again. So you thought everyone was going, everyone was speeding up around you and then suddenly you had quite literally a wall?

Verschoor: Basically, because the last corner is banked I couldn't see the cars in front, then the two cars in front of me start accelerating and suddenly they braked and I was just too close. Like I thought I had a good restart, but then everybody braked again so I just hit him.

FIA Formula 2: Let's talk about one of the real positives of your race, which was the way you managed to make the soft tyre last longer than anybody else in that first stint. How difficult was it to do that?

Verschoor: To be honest I had the same as Felipe the car didn't feel mega on the softs but very good on the primes. I don't know, we just kept pushing I trusted a team that we had to stay out longer. To be honest, I wanted to box as soon as Dennis Hauger boxed in front of me. They told me to stay out because we had a good pace, so I just kept doing what I was doing. In the end, I think we had a good pit stop as well so it worked out.

FIA Formula 2: Richard, it's great to see you back on the podium. Does this in some way make up for the disappointment of what happened at the Red Bull Ring earlier in the season?

Verschoor: Almost. Anyway, I'm happier that we can score consistently now, like in Spa we finished fifth and fourth. Now we finished seventh and second so that's what we need. That's what we were missing in the middle part of the season. So I'll keep that up for the rest of the season.

FIA Formula 2: Well done to you. Ayumu we'll come to you now, very well done to you as well from fifth on the grid. How tough was this race for you?

Ayumu Iwasa: First, it was quite a physical race, because even last year in F3 it was quite tough, quite physical. But to be honest, it was not as hard as expected before, because I was training quite a lot. I'm happy about the result and my pace in the Feature Race because I was very quick even in yesterday's Sprint Race, but we kept the good speed in the Feature Race as well. It was very good. I was thinking that the race will be quite tough with some accidents and some Safety Cars. I think it was good because we were thinking about the prime option strategy as well, but the option prime was better for sure.

FIA Formula 2: You were very close to Richard in those closing laps. How did the pace of your two cars compare?

Iwasa: To be honest, the car was not strong as yesterday, because yesterday I could follow quite well especially in the last sector, in Turns 12 and 13. Today, I was not doing so well with the car balance because following was a bit more difficult than yesterday. So I was struggling to overtake at Turn 1. But overall our pace was quite good compared to Dennis behind me. I think the pace was good but to be honest, it was more difficult than yesterday.

FIA Formula 2: Alright. Well, very well done to you.