Yas Marina Q&A with Nyck De Vries: “Finally we are racing again very soon and that's good.”

20/11/17 Yas Marina Q&A with Nyck De Vries: “Finally we are racing again very soon and that's good.”

This weekend sees the final round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship taking place at the Yas Marina circuit, Abu Dhabi and although there has been a long break since the last round at Jerez it hasn’t been a holiday for Racing Engineering with the team working hard at their base in Sanlucar de Barrameda to prepare for the last two races of the year and it has been a similar story for their driver Nyck De Vries who has had a full diary to ensure his days are occupied.

Below Nyck describes just some of the things that he has been doing with the time between the races.

There has been an almost two months break since the last race in Jerez at the beginning of October. How have you spent the time since then and how have you prepared for Abu Dhabi?

Unfortunately, it has been a long break between Jerez and Abu Dhabi, but finally we are racing again very soon and that's good. I have been occupied and very busy with many different things, spending a lot of time in England at McLaren doing simulator work, but also media work, different things really. We went to a science museum for an event. I had different things in the Netherlands for the media and challenges for the new Play Station game. We made a commercial for the new game organizing a challenge between pros and people who are promoting the game.
So, I have been very busy. I don't have much time to sit and chill out, but I am very much looking forward to the last races of the year, I am no great fan of the big gaps but unfortunately that how it is and it’s the same for everyone. I am happy to go back racing after a lot of time spent in the simulator. We are here in Spain to prepare the Abu Dhabi event in the best possible way and I hope we finish off the last race of the year on a high.

Like every year, the championship’s finale takes place in Abu Dhabi. Are you excited about going to race the Yas Marina Circuit and especially the fact that you will be driving at night?

Abu Dhabi is a very cool place and we will be there for quite a while. It is nice to escape the winter in Europe and go out for some sun. The fact that we are racing at night obviously makes it quite special and different, which I think is pretty cool. I am very much looking forward to jumping back in the car and going racing again.

How would you describe the Yas Marina Circuit and what makes it special for you as a driver?

I think the Yas Marina Circuit is one of the most difficult ones on the calendar. It's long and has a lot of different corner combinations requiring different tricks in different places. You need to sacrifice one corner for another, it's very technical. From a driver point of view it's very difficult, but from the team point of view it's a very challenging track as well. So, all in all, I'm very excited to go back to the final round of the Championship and finish off the Championship there.

From a technical point of view Yas Marina Circuit is a demanding track. In your opinion, which would you say is the most crucial part or sector for a driver to watch out for when it comes to setting the fastest lap time?

I think sector three is the key part of the track in Abu Dhabi. First at all, because it's the longest with the most corners and it's the end of the lap. So, in qualifying, you are obviously losing grip throughout the lap, which makes it very tricky to manage and extract the maximum out of your package. I think sector three is the sector where you can make the difference, if everything is right.