“It’s always a great pleasure to drive this kind of car” — Felipe Drugovich talks about his racing future after FP1 outing at F1 Mexico GP

FP1 at the Mexico Grand Prix was filled with several rookies taking over drives to comply with the regulations that state that all Formula 1 drivers must sit out one FP1 per season for a rookie who has no more than two Grand Prix starts. Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin and Kick Sauber were the teams to make changes on Friday.

Aston Martin put their reserve driver and former F2 champion Felipe Drugovich at the helm of Fernando Alonso’s car. Despite a disrupted session by 2 red flags issued because of debris and an incident between Albon and Bearman, he managed to run both the hard and the soft tyres.

Speaking after the session, Drugovich explained that despite the disjointed session, the data gathered was essential for the team, saying: “I think it was a good session. The main focus was just to get the aero data gathered from the beginning of the session. I think it was two runs like that. And then after that, just get a few push laps. 

“Obviously, with the red flags, it was a bit interrupted and it wasn’t really good. But I think the data that we gathered was good. The team was happy with it. And I just got a few laps that I could push. Very few, I would say.

“I wish I had many more because for sure, there was much more to come from me. But no, I think it was a good session. Also a bit tricky with the traffic there at the end on the soft tyres, which compromised me a little bit.

“But I’m also happy with the opportunity. It’s always a great pleasure to drive this kind of car.”

Although he has been away from single-seater racing since 2022, Drugovich has worked in the simulator to support the struggling AM24 car’s development. He emphasised the session’s significance for his progress, stating: “Yeah, I think especially, being on the simulator for most of the year, trying to improve this car, but not really having driving this car anytime along the whole year, it’s quite tricky to get the feeling because people might ask you, like, how’s the car feeling on the simulator? I’m like, yeah, it feels OK. 

“But, I don’t know what the real-life feels like. So after the first session like this, I can for sure make a step there as well and help the team with that. The drivers are doing that. They go back and forth from the simulator as well. But someone else doing a bit more work is always good. And for sure, my work now is going to be a bit better with this opportunity.”

Speaking on his future, the Brazilian driver explained that he’s looking at other options outside of Formula 1 as uncertainty over his racing career is still a talking point, When he was asked about any future FP1 runs, he said: “I don’t know yet. Hopefully a few more, a few ones. But I think it’s a bit early to say now. Let’s see along the year how it’s going to go and also for next year what’s going to happen. So I don’t know what’s going to happen… We’ll see what happens. And I’m happy with the job and what the team is giving me right now.

“It’s something that I’ve been looking a lot what to do. I think it’s already quite late in the year, most of the teams, not just in Formula One, they are taking quite long to decide stuff for next year. So that’s a good thing. We still have some opportunities open for next year. So, yeah, we need to wait and see in the next few weeks what’s going to happen.”