Set to start from reverse-grid pole, MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor endured a scruffy Qualifying session at the F2 Qatar GP that left him settling for P10. Still in the fight for the title with 151 points to his name, the Dutchman sits 4th in the Drivers’ Standings heading into the Sprint Race. Reflecting on his session, Verschoor admitted he wasn’t pleased with how his session unfolded.
“It was very messy, not happy at all with the result. To be honest, Ollie [Goethe] did an outstanding job, he did a superb job, but it also shows that I should have done a better job.”
“It was quite messy especially on the second set with a lot of traffic. I don’t know why so many people were out of sequence, but it really didn’t help me.”
He explained the session never came together and claimed that he wasn’t able to showcase his true pace. However, even if he’d found himself in the fight for pole, he believes pole had likely been out of reach.
“I was a bit compromised, but I didn’t show the full potential, even if I wouldn’t have been fighting for pole.”
Extracting positives from a messy session
The 24 year-old explained that heavy traffic on his second run threw off his rhythm. Still, he noted that starting P1 in the Sprint later today is still a positive opportunity for him to capitalise on and is focused on building from there.
Verschoor said: “It was just the traffic on the second run. I was just not feeling the rhythm because of it. In this sport, it’s all about the details and the feeling. The feeling was just not there. Sometimes it happens, and I have to look for it.”
“P1 in the Sprint is a bit of a positive, but it comes after a negative. It’s better than being P11, so let’s try to make the most out of it, score some points and we’ll go from there.”
All to play for in the final rounds of the season
Although Invicta Racing’s Leonardo Fornaroli currently leads the fight for the championship, Verschoor knows that in Formula 2, anything can change quickly — nothing is guaranteed.
“Anything’s possible. I know we have a good race car here. Let’s see how the tyres behave. It will be quite an interesting race and in F2 you never know.”
“At the moment, this means nothing in the Championship race. Tomorrow, we race and score points, and then we’ll add it up. Sometimes you just don’t know. I’d have preferred to be top three in Qualifying but it wasn’t meant to be today. Let’s hope it is in Abu Dhabi.”
Since his victory in the Austrian GP Feature Race, Verschoor hasn’t returned to the podium. Starting from pole later today, the Dutchman will undoubtedly be aiming to turn that around with a win or at least a podium.
