Points in Baku debut weekend ‘more than we expected’ says Yamakoshi

Hiyu Yamakoshi made his FIA Formula 2 debut in Baku last time out, and afterwards he reflected on his weekend with Van Amersfoort Racing.

The Japanese driver qualified 18th and after taking the chequered flag in P17 in the Sprint returned on Friday afternoon to score his first point in P9 in Feature Race 1.

Yamakoshi then finished 14th in Feature Race 2, and speaking at the end of it all, he was fairly happy with how things went in Azerbaijan.

“In the end, I just got in the points, which was more than what we expected overall,” said Yamakoshi. “After a difficult qualifying, it was more difficult than I expected but it was my second ever time driving in F2.

“But I’m happy with the weekend. I learned so many things, I made progress on many things, especially for Feature Race 1 with the Supersoft. My best lap was only half a second from down, and actually pretty much same as Martinius, which is like around top five pace.

“I impressed myself. Today we were struggling a bit with the balance of the car, but still, I think my pace was around top ten. Before the pit stop, I overtook Bilinski as well, so for me overall the weekend was really positive and nice progress overall.”

On a weekend where the drivers had three races, Yamakoshi picked a few things he learned while racing wheel-to-wheel, and he also explained how racing Formula 3 helped him to prepare for the challenge of Baku.

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“I mean, of course, the rest of the drivers have more experience in Formula 2, so I have a bit of a disadvantage,” he said. “But I think F3 has more fights, with the race starts and the slipstream, the tow effect is big.

“So, I learned a lot this year, especially from Monza, and I just used that experience in Baku as well.”

Yamakoshi continued to pick out a few things he experienced for the first time, such as pistops and strategies.

“The pitstops were the difficult part,” said Yamakoshi. “I still have to learn how to drive on the limit right way, especially with the colder tyre on the out lap, because I lost around 1.5 or two seconds in the out lap, so I have to improve.

“Of course, it's my first time proper pushing on an out lap, so if I have another chance, I can be better. Also, this is a city track, a street track, and the wall is just next to me, if I go over the limit then I’m in the wall which is not the best.

“So, I took a little bit of margin, I didn't take risks, but if I have another chance at a track like Yas Marina or Qatar, I think I can take a bit more risk, so it should be a little bit better.”