Felipe Drugovich, in his third season of racing, became this year's Formula 2 champion. However, Like Nyck de Vries, he was unable to find a place in F1 directly. Instead, he will become a reserve driver for Aston Martin next year. Roxana Ćwik spoke to him in Austin ahead of the US Grand Prix about his current situation in motorsport, F2 performances so far, future and Brazilian heritage.
Felipe, you are working with Aston Martin. How does it feel to be a part of an F1 Team?
It feels really, really good. Just starting the process, for the first time meeting the team probably two weeks ago. First race weekend with them, so I’m really enjoying it. It’s already quite a lot just to get to know how the team works and stuff like that so it’s going really well.
When will you see you with the Aston Martin?
We don’t know yet, it’s still very early. Hopefully what I’m doing right now is good for my practice. I’m just getting to know the team and hopefully one day I can be driving.
What are your chances of being on the grid next year? Not many seats left. One of them is in the Haas. Do you think you can make it next year or are you waiting basically for the seat to be avaiable?
No. I think for the moment I’m really focused on Aston. My job here is just to have the team progress a bit and also to learn from it. Also the other two seats have probably been taken already so… I think there is nothing for me to be worried about. I just need to get there in the end and hopefully in the future I will have a good shot.
You are now stuck out of a seat in F1 just like Nyck de Vries a few years back. Do you think that F2 champions should be given the chance to automatically graduate to F1 the following year?
For sure, yes. In my opinion, if you are a Formula 2 champion you are worth being in F1. Obviously there are a lot of steps that you need to learn, so that’s another thing. But the true speed and performance is there. I think I have the potential to be there one day. I’m in the same situation as him [Nyck de Vries], so hopefully I will be in the same situation as him again, but I don’t know if I will get the chance.
I saw how you won the F2 championship, because I was also there in Monza. Is it weird to win the championship even though you didn’t compete on the track?
Yes, it’s quite weird. I would say this is not what I was expecting, but I have to say it was quite cool. Actually celebrating with the team outside was something very different. You know I have to look at the positives. Obviously the race didn’t go as I planned, but it was actually really cool to be there with the team. It’s a different environment and it was nice for them.
You are from Brazil. You are the new hope for Brazilian people after Ayrton Senna, Rubens Barrichello or Felipe Massa. Do you talk with Felipe or Rubens [Barrichello] about how to be here in the paddock?
Not exactly about that. I know them, I talk a little bit with them. But no, I just have simple conversations with them. They ask me what I will be doing next year, but not specifically on that.
Your first year in F2 was very strong. The next season was a little bit worse, but this last one is finishing with you crowned as a champion. Is it hard to have difficult moments in your career?
I think everyone has it. You’ve just mentioned Nyck de Vries, which was pretty much the same. He went from a poor team to Prema which was supposed to be a very good team in F2 and didn’t have a good year as well. I think it can happen, sometimes the team and the driver or the car couldn’t match together. Obviously that’s not a good thing, we don ’t like that. I didn’t like that at all. I tried it in the third year and luckily I could deliver it.
What do you think about F2 and the drivers? In my opinion some of them are somehow aggressive when they fight for position with other drivers. Do you agree with it?
In junior categories I would call it that even though I don't think F2 is a junior category. But I think there are two types of drivers in F2. There are those very aggressive and those who are more intelligent and a bit more calm. And I think you can see more or less those ones that are going forward, the ones that are keeping it consistent. For sure, some of them are aggressive, but they are not getting the results they can get.
If you could pick one best moment from F2, which would it be? Of course I know there was Monza where you won the championship, but maybe some other moment?
Probably win in Monaco. Monaco was a really cool weekend.
What do you think about Monaco?
It’s amazing. For sure it’s the best street circuit that I have ever driven and one of the best circuits that I know. And for sure the best atmosphere I ever felt. It was very cool to deliver there. It wasn’t the weekend that I was expecting to deliver for many reasons. The team wasn’t good there when previously we were there. I was kind of curious to see how we’re going to do, but then from free practice I was already P1, so I was very happy with the result.
You are naturally competing on the same circuits as F1 and F3. Is it better to have F1, F2 and F3 together on the same tracks and the same weekends?
It’s a difficult question, because you’ll always think «OK, it’s better, because most of the F1 people are looking at you». Sometimes I even think: if they are at home, let’s say, not doing anything, but actually paying attention to the race and not because they are at home doing other things. So it’s a difficult question to say but at the end of the day I think those series being together is actually a good thing because you have more contact you can go from one paddock to the other or something like that.
As a female I must also ask about the W Series. What do you think about the situation with the series that everything can change in a minute after they announced they will not end the season because of the money?
To be fair, I haven't been following it so much, I cannot comment much on that. Obviously it’s a shame that the championship didn’t go well, especially stopping in the middle of the season, but I don’t know what’s going on actually.
If you could choose other series than F1, which one would you choose and why? I mean, not for the full season, but just to try it.
At the moment we can always just think about F1. But other categories are really cool, like Le Mans with hypercar or IndyCar… I think hypercars will be a big category from now on.
There were some rumours that you are linked to one of the teams in IndyCar. Is that true that you had a call before you joined an Aston Martin?
Obviously we were trying to see options other than F1, because as we see that race seat was quite difficult. And we are seeing that the drive in the other category would be ok. But no, nothing too serious, just some contacts.
What do you think about the situation from Japan where one of the trucks was on the roll. It was a similar situation as in 2014, when Jules Bianchi had an accident. Do you think, as a driver, something could be changed immediately, because this situation with Pierre Gasly was very similar.
We were seeing that the drivers were not so happy with that, so I think that’s something FIA has to take care of and they will.
What about the kerbs? At Monza we had a situation with - I think it was Alexander Peroni - who had a flight, and some of the kerbs are still there. Do you think that drivers could push more to change the tracks?
I was actually behind him at that time, when he completely took off. What I saw wasn't so nice to see. I think some [kerbs] need to be there, because otherwise [drivers] will cut corners. Also most of the drivers would agree to just put gravel, because it’s easier. I think, anyway, the FIA has more expertise than us to make the track safer. Some of them need to be removed like they are doing. I think with time it’s gonna get better.
Next year you will be working with Fernando Alonso. How does it feel to have a champion like him in the team?
I think it’s nice. I’m sure it feels very nice. In my case, when I’m just trying to learn, get as much experience as I can, so having someone like him or even Seb [Vettel] this year is something really great. You have Lance, who is very young. You can see both sides of the coin, one is very experienced and the other is fast and young, so it’s gonna be very nice to work with them.
Thank you so much, it was a pleasure.
Thank you.
