Drugovich’s Guest Column: The title was well worth the wait

13 September 2022

There was only one person we could hand Guest column duties over to this week...our 2022 FIA Formula 2 Champion Felipe Drugovich!

It was an emotional rollercoaster of a weekend for the MP Motorsport driver. Contact early in the Sprint Race saw him facing a nervous wait on the sidelines, wondering if he had done enough to take the title with three races to go. Yet as the chequered flag flew, celebrations began as the Brazilian driver knew his work was done and his efforts had been more than worthwhile, taking home the title in a dominant fashion.

Reflecting on the topsy-turvy penultimate round, Drugovich looked back on the highs, the lows and what the future holds for him heading into the November finale.

ONE GOOD POINT – TAKING THE TITLE

It’s of course winning the Championship! That was something I’ve been waiting for and managed to do it.

ONE BAD POINT – MISSING OUT ON POINTS

I don’t think we had great pace, plus we didn’t score as many points as I wished. I got touched in Race 1 and then also all the Safety Cars and Red Flags messed up our strategy in Race 2, they were not great. So, I think overall, it was the results of the weekend.

WHAT I LEARNED – CAUTION IS KEY

I learned that it’s best to take care in cases of touching where there’s hardly any contact because of course in the Sprint Race, I had nothing to lose so I just went for it and probably put the car where I shouldn’t. Even like that, I got pushed out so something to take into consideration.

Obviously, I’ve taken care of the car and the results in every single race this year, so I never really put my nose where it doesn’t belong. But I think the one race I really tried to go for it and not care about these things, it showed me we need to stay cautious in any case.

FANS MAY HAVE MISSED – WAITING FOR THE NEWS

Well, the funny thing was the way I won the Championship, I think that was pretty funny to be fair. I think you have to see the things gratefully. People said it wasn’t probably the way I would have liked to win the Championship from the pit lane box.

It was actually pretty funny to do the pit lane, walk back to parc ferme and every camera is around, just waiting for the title to come. It was quite funny, and I enjoyed it!

NEXT UP – YAS ISLAND FINALE

The thoughts for the next round are pretty much straightforward. It will be a really cool weekend for me because I’ll be doing an FP1 as well with Aston Martin and then there will be a weekend that I can really have fun and enjoy the moment.

I think it’ll be a complete race weekend without any pressures and it’s a track that I enjoy, so it should be a great weekend.