2022 Round 11 post-Feature Race press conference

Thoughts from Doohan, Drugovich and Lawson

FIA Formula 2: A very warm welcome to the top three finishers in the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race here at Spa-Francorchamps. In third place, Liam Lawson for Carlin. In second place, Felipe Drugovich for MP Motorsport and winning his third race of the season, our winner, Jack Doohan for Virtuosi Racing. Very well done Jack, your first Feature Race win of the season and it follows your podium from yesterday, what a race. What a weekend for you.

Jack Doohan: “Yeah, it took a while. What are we, I think Round 11 or 12, I honestly don’t know there’s been a lot. It’s taken a while but I’m super happy because I’ve grown so much as a driver, especially from where I came from in Round 1 where I had the same opportunity. I’m just very thankful to the team, all my supporters that have given me the opportunity to show my performance here this weekend.”

FIA Formula 2: Lets talk about the race, you gave a very strong message of intent at the start. You passed Enzo Fittipaldi like he was standing still.

Doohan: “Yeah I think we had a good start. Felipe also seemed very strong when I watched the replay back. To be honest, there wasn’t anything spectacular it was just a good getwaway, no wheelspin which I think is key here with the low track grip. That was the goal, able to get behind Felipe and then the race, we were already in quite a good position.”

FIA Formula 2: Now in terms of your race with Felipe, how confident were you about the undercut?

Doohan: “I didn’t really know to be honest. I knew that we had good pace on the prime, which is the medium. The option wasn’t bad but I was hoping that it was going to be our weaker tyre. Mostly we were quite close for the whole first stint. The overcut was looking like it was stronger, then I decided on my own that I was going to keep going but then when he stayed out, I decided to box. I knew I did good prep to the grid on the prime so I knew I had some good tyres underneath me. I think we had a slightly slow stop on the rear left, but the outlap was quite ok and when they said we might have the chance for the undercut I was stoked. Coming out of Turn 1 and seeing that we’d done it I was really happy for the boys.”

FIA Formula 2: Well, very well done Jack, brilliant race weekend by you. Felipe coming to you, and can I start with talking about that moment, undercut, overcut. What were your thoughts at that stage of the race?

Felipe Drugovich: “Well I was actually having a chat with my engineer for a couple of laps, he told me to box and then to stay out one more lap, and then I stayed out that lap and then the tyres were still the same as two laps ago, so I said I could go more and more laps if I needed to. Might have been the wrong choice but I think it is what it is. We’re playing it safe as well so at least we got the pit lane clean and stop wasn’t the quickest but anyway, Jack was too fast for us on the primes anyway. So we just did whatever we could with that package.”

FIA Formula 2: Just the race as a whole, how did you feel about it?

Drugovich: “I feel good, obviously we wanted the win. Starting from pole, you always want to win. I think we need to be happy, very good points for the Championship. Nothing to complain about, just a few things that we need to look at and improve for the next one.”

FIA Formula 2: Very well done for today, thank you. Liam, coming to you, another strong drive and race weekend for you, two podiums, do you feel like you’ve got a bit of momentum now?

Liam Lawson: “I think so, I hope so. I’d like to definitely carry this forwards. I said before the weekend that the Championship is out of reach for us so I’m just trying to have some great races and have highlights to finish off the year. This weekend was good, I plan on trying to do the same for the rest of the season.”

FIA Formula 2: You had a pretty slow pit stop, did you feel your chances of a podium were looking slim at that point?

Lawson: “Yeah, definitely to be honest. It’s a shame because I had a really good launch again but I was stuck around the outside of Turn 1. If I was able to get across, I feel like I’d have been able to jump a couple of cars, I was already a little bit further back than I wanted to be. On the option I felt that that was where we were the strongest but I was just completely stuck for a long time. We were one of the first to box I think. We had a very slow stop and I thought that I was going to come out a lot further back but the undercut worked really really well. Had everything gone completely to plan, we probably could have fought these guys with an undercut. But in the end, P3 is a good result.”

FIA Formula 2: You did have a few scraps during the race, particularly with Enzo Fittipaldi, it looked pretty tasty. Did you touch at one point?

Lawson: “Yep, we touched a couple of times. He’s very aggressive and tried the same move I think four times at Turn 5 and every single time the same thing happened. He would come back on after overtaking off the track and stay ahead of me for at times, half a lap. I had the same with Beckmann and it cost us a lot of time. With the last occasion it happens, I’d just come out of the box and had colder tyres so was obviously trying hard to stay in front so I could get some temp and pull away and we were able to do it.”