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Motorsport

Jehan Daruvala targets win and podiums in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi to finish the season on a high

I just want to do well in Jeddah and Abou Dhabhi, get on the podium and win races, says Jehan on how he wants to finish his current F2 season.

Jehan Daruvala targets win and podiums in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi to finish the season on a high
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Image Source: F2 Media

By

Siddharth Mishra

Updated: 15 Dec 2021 5:46 PM GMT

The second season for Indian motorsport sensation Jehan Daruvala in F2 has been a major upgrade than his first. He already has four podiums (Bahrain, Sochi, Monza, and Baku) to his name, and he won his second sprint race at the temple of speed, the Monza GP in Italy.

Jehan has outscored himself by 24 points, with two races to go. He sits currently at 7th in the F2 championships and is within striking distance of the top. The Indian driver exclusively spoke to The Bridge, on his second season, and his victory in Monza, and what his targets are with respect to this season, and F1.

"This season has had its ups and downs, and I believe the rounds in Monaco, Silverstone put a hold on my championship fight. Apart from these, I have consistently scored around 25-30 points in every other round. I am still there to fight for the top five and have had decent results. I have definitely taken a step forward in terms of performance, and especially in the last two races where I have qualified in the front row." said Jehan on how the transition has been from the first to the second season for Carlin in F2.

The major highlight for Jehan this season has been the moment when he won the Sprint race in Monza, which is called the Temple of Speed by the motorsport fans. The circuit has a lot of history, emotion, and value in motorsport, and to win there was a moment that he will definitely remember for a long long time.

"It was a great achievement for sure. I qualified for the feature race in the front row, and we had a good pace the entire weekend. Normally Monza is not an easy track to lead at, I got into the lead, controlled the pace, and managed to get away. To break away from the field, and dominate at Monza and win by six seconds felt really good." on how good he was that weekend when he won the Sprint race and started in the front row for the feature race in Monza.

"Everything sunk in on the podium, and the national anthem to play there meant really a lot to me. My parents were also there, and that made the victory more special,"
added Jehan on how special the victory was in Monza.

Image Source: F2 Media

The strategy by him and his team at Monza made it clear that they wanted to get that lead in the start, and then push as much as they could so that DRS does not come into action, and it proved to be a masterstroke for the Red Bull junior team driver.

"DRS is quite effective in high-speed tracks like Monza, and the goal was to break away from the one sec (mark). At the pace at which I was pushing, the guy behind me was still just hanging in DRS, so I knew that if I broke out of the one second, I would have the buffer. If you find 5 or 6 tenths for DRS, if you break out of that it helps a lot. It's very tricky in F2 because of tire degradation, if you push too hard then you can actually struggle at the end. I was going at my own pace, and in fact, clean air on my tires helped me in the middle and push away with the race" said Jehan on the difficulty in implementing the strategies to eliminate DRS, and develop a marginal lead to break away from the pack.

In the
2020 season, Jehan became the first Indian ever to win an F2 race, when he won the Sprint race at the Bahrain Grand Prix. One season later, he has four more podiums, one more victory, and is moving towards a direction where he can feel that his dream of being in Formula One is coming step by step closer. Obviously, he won't have one of the F1 seats next year, but he is hoping that he becomes more consistent in F2 and seats open up in 2023 for him.

As a racing driver, Jehan is making progress and is improving year by year. With two races to go in the 2021 season, Jehan Daruvala is just 24 points behind ART GP team driver Théo Pourchaire and can overtake him in the rankings if things go his way.

"The goal was to win the championship, or finish in the top three, but when you are sixth, seventh, or eighth the goal is to try to win races and move forward. I am not thinking about the championships anymore, I just want to do well in Jeddah and Abou Dhabhi, get on the podium and win races" said Jehan, on his targets for the remainder of the season.

The seventh round of the F2 season will be held in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, on the first weekend of December, and the last race will be held at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, a week after the Saudi GP.

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