Formula Racing
Jehan Daruvala: "In the right place, right time with Red Bull Junior Team"
We asked India’s most promising F1 aspirant about his signing with the Red Bull Junior Team.
Jehan Daruvala seems poised to become the third Indian to drive in Formula One after Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok.
In February 2020, he announced that he would be getting the backing of the Red Bull Junior Team for the upcoming season. The team is famous for producing talented drivers like four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, current Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri drivers Alex Albon, Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly, and many others.
If he performs well with the Carlin team in the 2020 F2 season, Jehan can be expected to make significant progress in his chase for an F1 seat next season.
We asked him how signing with the Red Bull Junior Team would help his career and F1 prospects. Here is what he had to say.
Will you be able to test the Red Bull Racing RB16 race car this season? If so, how can that help with your career?
As of now, there is no plan to test an F1 car with Red Bull during the year. My complete focus is to do my best in F2 and take things as they come.
Have you had a chance to work on the Red Bull Race Simulator? What are you looking forward to with using the simulator?
I have not been on the Red Bull Simulator yet but will be going there shortly. The idea is to spend time on the sim preparing for my F2 races.
How do you hope to gain from chats with team principle Helmut Marko?
I met Dr Marko in Sochi (in September 2019) when we discussed the possible association with Red Bull. Since all our races will be on F1 weekends there will be a lot of opportunities to meet Dr Marko on the race weekend and discuss my progress as a driver. He is known to be very frank about his feedback and that is always helpful for a driver.
Jehan Daruvala
© James Gasperotti
You will be spending race weekends with the Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri teams. Will that help you in becoming an F1 driver?
The most important thing to get a foot in the door as an F1 driver is to perform in F2 as it immediately gets noticed. Being in the paddock with Red Bull and Scuderia AlphaTauri will always help familiarising myself with how things work behind the scenes but will not necessarily help getting a foot into F1.
Are you looking forward to chatting with Max Verstappen, Alex Albon, Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly on race weekends? What would you ask them?
I don’t think that will happen on race weekends. On race weekends, all the drivers – including myself – will be completely focussed on what we need to do to perform and we do not get too much time for other things. However if I do bump into any of them at the factory, it will be good to chat with them and get to know each other. Whenever you meet an F1 racing driver and chat, it will invariably be about racing and I would surely gain from their experience.
What other opportunities do you see opening up for yourself as part of Red Bull Junior Team?
The opportunity of being a part of the Red Bull junior program is huge. It is the only F1 team with four seats. If they feel that they have a young driver in their program who is deserving, they do not hesitate to give him an opportunity in F1. I know that I am in the right place and at the right time. Now it is up to me to deliver and show Red Bull that I am deserving of an F1 seat. It is very important that I stay focussed on my F2 season and do not keep thinking about the F1 opportunity as that distracts many drivers from achieving what they are capable of.
I am also looking forward to meeting the Red Bull team at the factory when I go there for my sims. Spending time with the engineers there and gaining from their experience will be very helpful.