Louis wants to battle back to form in Baku
Rookie driver Louis Delétraz will come face-to-face with the Baku City Circuit for the first time this weekend as Azerbaijan hosts the fourth round of the 2017 FIA Formula Two Championship.
The 20-year-old Swiss is hoping his first visit to Baku’s 6km street circuit, which features a mixture of long, high-speed straights and tight and twisty corners through the medieval old town, will bring a frustrating run of recent F2 results to an end and confirm Louis has the pace to run close to the front of the field.
“I’m feeling really good and ready for Baku,” ADS Securities-supported Louis said. “I have shown I have the race pace so far this season but the one-lap qualifying result has not been what I’ve wanted. Getting that right is the main goal this weekend. Pulling everything together to set a proper lap in quali will make sure I start at the front and I’m going to be pushing hard to achieve that. I’m feeling really motivated.
“Qualifying determines your weekend and if you start at the back you mainly stay at the back. I don’t want to be in that position and my race pace has shown I shouldn’t be. I’m hoping we can get everything right this weekend and move up the grid.”
Baku is only the second track – after Monaco – on the 11-round F2 calendar that Louis hasn’t raced before but his pre-race simulator work at Racing Engineering’s Spanish headquarters has been strong and he’s not expecting Baku to throw up any challenges that he won’t be able to cope with.
“I’ve only driven the track on the sim but it’s really nice and technical and it’s something completely different to the rest of the tracks this season,” the reigning Formula V8 3.5 Rookie Champion explained. “My team at Racing Engineering have an excellent sim and it’s perfect for learning a track like Baku. Of course, it’s impossible to recreate every single factor but to learn a new track as a rookie, it’s superb.
“I will be coming to Free Practice on Friday knowing exactly what I should be doing to be fast. I don’t think there’s one particular area of the track that’s special. It’s so long and there are so many corners that if you apply your technique and make things right, it should be rewarding. If you find one tenth per corner you can find almost two seconds per lap!”
Louis admitted the start to his first F2 season has been tough, but his recent experiences in Bahrain, Barcelona and Monaco have only strengthened his resolve, focus and determination to show the form that has enabled him to score 39 wins and 53 podiums during his junior motorsport career.
He said: “The first few rounds were a bit about me learning and experiencing some bad luck. That meant I could never put a great result up and show what I could really do. Baku is a great opportunity to return strongly.
“There is a small question mark with the track being new to me but, regarding the result, I’m sure if we put things together, we will be much better than the last three rounds. The results at those events showed we are clearly not where we should be.”
