The opening two sessions of the Formula 2 weekend in Jeddah were very much disrupted for the drivers as a result of red flags. This resulted in a chaotic qualifying session, where the top three all found massive amounts of time in the final minute and pushed others down the order. Pole sitter from Bahrain, Jack Doohan, finished third in qualifying in Jeddah. He spoke to F1 Feeder Series and selected media about his performances so far this year.

By Tyler Foster

In the first round, Doohan excelled with his new team Virtuosi Racing, since graduating from F3 last year. As a rookie this season, he managed to score pole position in Bahrain but made a mistake on the exit from his pitstop in the Feature Race that led to him scoring just one point from a winning position. 

Losing out on a possible big points haul this early on in the year would have been a major disappointment for the Aussie. Doohan spoke about this moment and how he has reacted since then.

“Sunday was obviously looking good last weekend up until the mistake I made on my side. It was my first pit exit and we know what happened. I’ve learnt from it, it was a very hard learning curve.”

On Friday in Jeddah, Doohan was unable to get a single representative lap together as a result of the disruption of red flags on track. Despite this, he was able to finish strongly in qualifying and will start third for Sunday’s Feature Race.

“In Free Practice we were going to get a feel for the race car but unfortunately, I didn’t clock one lap. That’s the same for everyone. I think some people got laps but not consecutive. We take it how it comes and I definitely will be a lot more careful with my pit exits. Luckily, it’s not into a hairpin this time.”

Doohan will be looking to make up for the points he missed out on last week. Meanwhile, Feature Race winner Théo Pourchaire had an awful Friday after he suffered an accident in Practice, before suffering from a mechanical failure that ended his qualifying early. He will have to start from the back.

Felipe Drugovich

Instead, it was MP Motorsport’s Brazilian driver Felipe Drugovich that scored pole position with a mammoth lap at the end of qualifying. We spoke to him afterwards about his chances in the Feature Race and whether anything other than a race victory on Sunday would be considered a disappointment. 

“We are only in the second race of a thirteen-round championship, so anything we can take, we will take. We have the potential to be in the top three in the race but we will just have to wait and see if we can stay as further forward as possible. It will not be a disappointment if I come P3 or P2, but of course I think we have the potential to bring it in P1.”

Header photo credit: Formula Motorsport Ltd