Drugovich’s Guest Column: My potential is for much more

Felipe Drugovich capped off the 2021 campaign with a double podium, finishing second in Sprint Race 1 and third in the Feature Race to help UNI-Virtuosi to second in the Teams’ Championship.

Confirmed for a return to MP motorsport for the 2022 campaign, Drugovich will spend three-days with the team at post-season testing from Thursday before heading back to Brazil for the off-season.

Drugovich takes control of the final guest column of the season to pen his thoughts on a positive final round and to look back over the season as a whole.

ONE GOOD POINT - CONSISTENCY AND SPEED

The consistency and the speed were good this weekend. Those two things were really good. I wanted to have a smooth weekend with no dramas, and I managed to do that with a lot of speed. I am very happy with that and being on the podium twice proves it.

HIGHLIGHTS: Champion Piastri finishes ahead of Zhou in Yas Marina Feature Race

ONE BAD POINT - QUALIFYING

Qualifying wasn't good so good this weekend, I don't think. We know the issue that I had, though, and then there was also the fact that I had one lap deleted for track limits and that didn't help me for the fast one.

Because of that, I was a little bit up against the wall, I couldn't go over the top or I could have had a really bad qualifying, which meant that I was a little bit limited. I got P8 in the end, which was a downside, but I am happy with the overall outcome, despite qualifying.

WHAT I LEARNED - HOW TO BE CONSISTENT AND AGGRESSIVE AT THE SAME TIME

I have learned quite a lot this season, especially from the downsides of the season because that is when you learn the most. I have learned a lot in the difficult times, like how to be aggressive and consistent at the same time, which was something that I wasn't able to manage to do in the middle of the year.

I knew that I didn't have the speed in some of the races, but I was trying to compromise for that by being too aggressive and it just wasn't working. It was about finding a balance to extract the most from the car without going over the top. I think that is quite a fine margin to find, but by the end of the season, in the last two rounds, I really managed to maximise that, so I am happy.

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THOUGHTS ON THE SEASON - POTENTIAL FOR MORE

This season hasn't gone how I wanted, P8 is still in the top 10, but I was hoping for much more, and my potential is for much more than that. But it is what it is, and we will learn from it.

Hopefully next year I can improve and do much, much better. The season hasn't gone how I wanted, but there is nothing I can do now, I just have to focus on improving what I did wrong and move on.

NEXT UP - THE OFF-SEASON

I'm going back to Brazil after the test in Abu Dhabi and I will spend my off-season in Brazil. I will stay there with friends and family, which is how I normally enjoy my off-season.

I really like the place, it's where I love to be. I will be there relaxing, but also training and focusing on the next season. It is a good place for me to both relax and focus at the same time.