Sette Câmara: “You set yourself up to get lucky”

Sometimes in life, you just need a little bit of luck, and polesitter Sérgio Sette Câmara believes that he got just that in yesterday’s Qualifying session. However, he also knows that with the pace he had, he was well deserving of it.

The Brazilian achieved his second pole of the campaign under the Yas Marina lights, ahead of Callum Ilott and Louis Delétraz. There was an element of good fortune in the achievement though, as a spin from Sean Gelael, and the subsequent yellow flag, spoiled a number of push laps and effectively ended the session two minutes early.

The Brazilian had placed himself in the top three on the first run in Qualifying, despite making a mistake on the final sector, which slowed his time. This placed him directly below Ilott and Deletraz, before an improvement in the second run, and an all-together cleaner lap, saw him rise above the pair and into first.

“I know that there was a bit of a luck factor going on there,” he explained. “There was a driver spinning and a lot of the other drivers couldn't establish a laptime. If I remember well though, these two guys with me here Ilott and Deletraz were in the top three with me in the first run.

“That is a good sign and makes today's pole a bit more gratifying because it was the same people going quick on the first run that are here. So, I guess that they had the pace all along as well.

“I wasn't expecting such a big improvement and I was surprised when I crossed the line to see that it was in the 1m 49s. I had a pretty good Sector 3, so I think that explains it. I had made mistakes in my previous attempt there, so I was expecting that to be my main improvement place.”

The move from Free Practice to Qualifying at the Yas Marina Circuit can be a tricky balancing act, with the track unlike any other on the calendar for the F2 drivers, owing to the mixture of heat, sand, and primarily, the timing of the sessions.

Free Practice takes place during the stifling heat of the day, before the drivers then have to take to the track in cooler, darker conditions in the evening time. This can lead to confusion over the correct setup for the cars, and how to then implement it on track.

For Sette Câmara though, the most difficult aspect comes in the opening session: “In Free Practice, when you go out it feels horrible, there is no grip and you do a really messy lap and maybe you can be actually quite alright.

“In Qualifying, when you get more grip, everything makes sense and I think that it is surprising how quickly we can all find the limit. It is always tricky of course, but if I had to highlight what was most difficult, that would be Free Practice.

“We come from our sofas - two months without driving, and then you get a super tricky track, full of sand. That is the hardest part.”

Sitting in fourth, 29 points below his teammate Nicholas Latifi, the Brazilian can realistically still become the season’s Vice-Champion, although, admits that he is more concerned by the prospect of dropping places, than gaining them.

As it stands, Sette Camara would qualify for a Super Licence for 2020 and put himself in the shop window for Formula 1 teams. The Brazilian says his first job is to secure that, and then, he will look at climbing the Drivers’ Standings.

With 29 points needed to recover, second seems like a tough ask, whereas third place – currently occupied by Luca Ghiotto – is a much more realistic aim. Just 19 points separate the Brazilian from the Italian, who will start the Feature Race from 11th.

“I hope to maybe get up to third, but most importantly I don't want to drop to fifth,” he laughed. “In fourth, I guarantee my Super Licence, and even if I'm not going to F1 next year it's always good to be in the market with one. You set yourself up to get lucky, for an opportunity to show up. Not necessarily in a driver role, but maybe in tests or something.

“It's there on your CV, so I want to have it. Fourth at least guarantees me that but of course finishing top three in the championship it means something more - Top 3. You can put it in a sentence and it sounds good laughs. That would be nice.

“It's a big gap to Luca, I'm not sure where he's starting, but he's like 20 points ahead so I would need to get quite a lot of contrast. I'm better just focusing on driving a good race and then seeing afterwards how the maths are.”