Does Drugovich fulfil dream Brazilians? 'They yearn for an F1 driver'

Sooner than expected, Felipe Drugovich looks set to make his debut in Formula 1. If Lance Stroll has not recovered sufficiently from his cycling accident in a week, the Formula 2 champion will be his replacement. At last, a Brazilian would then be back in the pinnacle of motorsport.

Felipe Drugovich's story is a special one: he drove in F2 for three seasons, the first two of which were nothing more than field filler. Only in his final year, driving for Dutch MP Motorsport, Drugovich made a real impression. By a distance, he took the title in the class just below Formula 1. Remarkably, all this time he did not have a contract with an F1 team, something many of his talented colleagues do.

Several opportunities

It turned out not to be a big problem. Drugovich thus had his hands free to choose from several options, instead of being stuck in advance with a reserve deal at, say, Ferrari or Mercedes. In the end, it was Aston Martin that contracted Drugovich, the team for which he was allowed to go straight into action due to Stroll's injury during winter testing. Possibly now even his Grand Prix debut looms.

MP Motorsport, his former employer, thinks Drugovich is ready for the step up. "Felipe is a very quiet guy, unobtrusive. Maybe he doesn't have the right look of a playboy, so to speak," Henk de Jong, owner of the F2 team, told GPblog. "But as a driver, he is definitely a good guy. Especially technically, he is very good with his tyres. Look at Max (Verstappen), in Formula 1 tyre management is hugely important." Team manager Dorsman adds: "He became champion with 100 points ahead of number two. One hundred points!"

Enraptured

Should Drugovich appear at the start in Bahrain, he will undoubtedly thrill a lot of Brazilians. "They yearn for a Formula One driver" says Dorsman. "Brazilians love him. On social media, they are reacting with enormous enthusiasm. Felipe has a huge fanbase there. Nice to see." Henk de Jong says: "Brazil is a big country, with big sponsors. I think he should be happy to have a Brazilian passport."