“I want to win the championship”
Red Bull Racing backed Jehan Daruvala opens up about the last season and what he expects of himself going ahead
JEHAN DARUVALA IS ALL prepped for his second season in F2. After a debut year with mixed results, he is looking forward to having a solid season and making the move to Formula 1. We caught up with him right before he left for Dubai to compete in the Asian F3 with the Mumbai Falcons.
Talk us through your season. I’m sure you must have set targets. Did you achieve those targets? My target was to be in the top five in the championship which I obviously didn’t achieve. The first half of the season was a real struggle, for various reasons, but I kept improving. So to finish the season with a podium, and then a win, was very good. Now I’m looking forward to the coming season. I have signed again with Carlin and I’ll be backed by Red Bull, so it’s going to be an important year for me if I want to proceed to Formula 1.
Why did you struggle in the initial stages of the season?
The main thing I struggled with was the starts; I couldn’t get off the line. It’s hard to pinpoint why, the clutch systems are very complex. But to say the least at the end of the year, my starts were probably one of the best apart from Mick Schumacher’s. So as I said, things got better and better and the momentum was with me at the end of the season.
Talk us through the Red Bull junior programme. What is the sort of support you get? I can’t go too much into the details of the financial aspects, but all I can say is they support me quite well. They also prepare me for race weekends. With this year, and how the pandemic went, we had to remain in our bubbles so it was quite hard to go often to the factory, or communicate with anyone on track. But they did give us data to look at. We used their monitors at the track for the team. There was quite a bit of stuff, but the main thing were the simulators, preparation, and mental preparations.
How competitive is this programme? You’re one of many Red Bull Junior drivers. Is there a lot of competition within the team? There’s always going to be some competition, as we’re fighting the others to get to F1, but there’s no inter Red Bull rivalry; all of us are just competing for ourselves at the end of the day. Whoever gets the best results will be promoted into Formula 1.
What are your targets for the 2021 season?
I obviously want to win the championship, but a finish in the top three would mean a very successful season. ⌧
“TO FINISH THE SEASON WITH A PODIUM AND A WIN WAS VERY GOOD”
IN THE FINAL ROUND OF THE 23rd JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship, 16-yearold Amir Sayed (MSport) and Sandeep Kumar (Dark Don Racing) were crowned champions in their respective categories.
Sayed continued his dominance in the Novice Cup with another clean sweep, scoring a whopping 120 points. Dhruvin Gajjar came in second in the overall standings with a 71-point difference.
In the Formula LGB4 class, Sandeep Kumar had to battle it out with teammate Ashwin Datta — who was leading in the initial rounds. Ashwin looked like a favourite to win the championship on Day 1. However, Sandeep gave tough competition, winning Race 1 and 3, and coming a close second in Race 2.
On Day 2, Ashwin had a brake failure in Race 4 and hence had to start Race 6 from the last row. To make matters worse, he came in contact with a few cars in the first corner in the last race, and it was all over for him. Meanwhile, Sandeep kept himself out of trouble and finished with a total of 66 points, sealing the championship. ⌧