Photo: Prema
Frederik Vesti is now nine points off the Formula 2 championship lead after winning the Monza sprint race, and feels a more risk-prone approach is needed to take the title.
“My mindset on the grid was to first of all focus on the start,” he said of yesterday’s race, which he was third on the grid for.
“In F2 you can actually gain quite a lot if you manage to do a good start. And then I could see into turn one that [Ralph] Boschung locked up. So I just tried to keep focused on my own line, and I was able to get a really good exit.
“The mindset is full send, it’s attack. And I need to, because I’m behind Theo [Pourchaire] nine points now, and if I want to win the championship, I need to take risk and move forward. That’s the good part about racing.”
Vesti was points leader four races prior, but dropped behind by failing to score at Spa-Francorchamps and Zandvoort. Therefore to win again “means a lot to me” and “is important to restart this championship” challenge.
Although Vesti “was quite confident” heading into the Monza sprint race, getting a big result was no guarantee.
“We have a good car here, and I’ve driven a lot of races in Monza before. But you never know what can happen in Monza. I would not call it a lottery, but you can definitely win from very far.
“A lot can happen, safety car and so on. Taking the lead on lap one, I had a lot of laps to try to pull a gap, and then the safety car [appeared] again and so on. So there was a lot of pressure. But we managed a good race.”
He added: “I’ll be honest with you, I’m just happy to take this win. The championships, it’s important of course for every driver. But it’s all about confidence, it’s all about building a rhythm. My rhythm has been a bit broken since Spa and Zandvoort, so obviously that has been something to deal with.
“But coming back like this, this definitely gives the confidence I need both for tomorrow and into Abu Dhabi.”
ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins was the driver Vesti was fighting for the win following the second safety car restart, and he was confident he could keep him at bay.
“Just before the safety car came, I knew I was quite fast. Victor also seemed quite fast. But in terms of pace, I think we were quite similar. So to be honest, I was not too worried. I just knew I had to focus ahead and just try to manage, to at least build a gap. And my focus was to get him out of DRS, which was not fully possible. But we were fast enough to keep him away. So yeah, it was good enough.”