Jehan Daruvala celebrated a “satisfying” comeback in Jeddah, as he put in an excellent drive to stand on the podium of the Feature Race despite starting from 14th position.
The Indian driver suffered a disappointing start to his weekend, finishing way off the pace in Qualifying, condemning him to a low grid spot in both the Sprint Race and Feature Race.
During the post-race press conference, Jehan revealed how his team discovered the reason for his lack of pace and how he recovered throughout the weekend.
“I was really down on Friday night after the Qualifying session; I was a bit shocked, to be honest. The next day [the team] told me something was broken on the rear of the car, so it explained a lot of my troubles.
“It put me mentally in a good place for the races. It made me believe again. To come out of the two races in seventh and third was damage limitation after Qualifying, so I’m really happy.”
The Red Bull Junior’s race was far from straightforward, having to contend with radio issues during the closing stages of the race.
“I had a bit of a scare with four or five laps to go. Normally I have a beep for the gear shift, and my radio stopped working. I came out of Turn 10 and I didn’t shift up. I was waiting for the beep, and I hit the limiter. I think I lost over one and a half seconds over a couple of laps.”
The PREMA driver will now turn his attention to F2’s second test in Barcelona and then to the next round in Imola, but first, he has some admin to do.
“I have to fly India tonight to renew my passport because it’s running out of pages!”
Image Credit: Formula Motorsport Ltd
