Roy Nissany has always been a strong believer in the gains a racing driver can make from psychological training and says that 2022 will be no different.

Finishing the 2021 season in 16th with DAMS, Nissany scored his first F2 podium last year in the first Sprint Race at Monaco, and he is eager to add “more silverware on the shelf.”

And after opting for the continuity of a second season with DAMS, Nissany said that “brain training, and mental and psychological” improvements will feature heavily in his off-season training regime.

“I have to be faster, and I am going to work very, very hard to be faster,” said Nissany. “I am working towards this via many aspects, brain training, and mental and psychological training, as well as physical training and simulator work. I am doing anything that I can do, even if it is shifter karts or drifting on the ice - anything that can build the neurons in the brain that I use while driving.

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Nissany scored his first F2 podium in the first Sprint Race at Monaco last season
Nissany scored his first F2 podium in the first Sprint Race at Monaco last season

“I am certain that it (physiological training) has helped me. Maybe without it, I wouldn't be here today, and I wouldn't have had the long career behind me that I have now. I will always keep working on it. I am always trying to look on the bright side of things and that is thanks to physiological training.

“I want to keep improving. I was not ready to leave (Formula 2), I want more silverware on the shelf. I have a very strong connection with the team at DAMS, they believe in me, and I believe in them. We have very good work chemistry, so it is great to continue with them.”

Echoing comments made by DAMS’ Team Principal François Sicard, Nissany feels that the French team have made a step forward in their understanding of the 18-inch tyres, which were introduced in 2020, in place of the 13-inch rims.

But the Israeli racer insisted that this level of progress will need to increase again next season, from both him and the team, if they’re to return to the front of the field on a regular basis.

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Nissany will remain with DAMS in 2022
Nissany will remain with DAMS in 2022

“I think that everybody has improved, and everybody has made steps forward – DAMS included, but there might not have been quite enough improvement. That is not a secret, we are all aware of it, and we are making a very big effort to improve on this and make an even bigger step forward.

“Sometimes we could express the right potential, like in Silverstone and Monaco, where we qualified well, and in Monza, where we had very strong race pace, but as a whole, it was very up and down. I made some mistakes, and the car was not perfect sometimes.

“It is hard to reflect on the season as good or bad because of this, but it was a learning curve, and even if it is my third year in F2 and I am the oldest on the grid, there is always room to improve.

“And ahead of 2022 and in the tests, we'll be trying to get every bit of data that we can, so that we can understand better and better and deeper and deeper what is going on in the car and with the tyres, so that we can improve it.”