Vergne feels ready for this new 2013 F1 season
Jean-Eric Vergne won't discover the STR8 until Wednesday, but the Frenchman is in Jerez and has spoken about his preparation for this season and these tests in Jerez.
Like last year, Jean-Eric Vergne spent the winter preparing for the Formula 1 season. The Frenchman shared during a press conference that he had more time this year than in 2012: « Last year, I had a lot more marketing days with Toro Rosso, I had to go to Faenza, to Milton Keynes to do simulator work, I had a lot more to do last year. Therefore, as soon as you have a day at the factory, it means one day of travel before and one day after, so you lose three days straight away. So three days in a week of physical preparation is very important, so in the end, winter is really the only period in F1 where you can have a month of quiet preparation, let’s say 15 days/3 weeks where you prepare and really improve our performance. »
He believes it’s a good thing because this winter physical preparation is an important moment, as later on during the season, the drivers don’t have the time to prepare as well: After all, throughout the year, we don’t improve anything at all, all we do is exercise to maintain our performance at about the same level. Anyway, we travel so much that we don’t really have the time to prepare, to improve. What is important in physical preparation is recovery. So during the year, we do less intense exercises than during the winter period because we don’t have time to recover.
Vergne spent two weeks in Chamonix to prepare, including skiing and snowshoeing among other activities. He thus considers himself ready for this new F1 season: « I have a much better physical preparation this year. I feel more ready, besides it being my second year in F1, so I’m more used to racing, thus it will be less complicated. »
He also touched on the practice of “risky sports,” such as skiing, mountain biking, and motorcycling, expressing that his team forbade him nothing: “I pay attention to what I do. As long as you are serious and careful, you do what you want and, in any case, accidents can never be predicted.”
The Frenchman also stated that these private tests are important moments for a driver during a season, as they allow exploring things differently: « We’re here to race but these tests are very important because they let us see how the car is, to prepare for the races. It’s interesting, we learn a lot about the car. It’s the only time we can test things, which is something we miss a bit in F1, so it’s quite good to have this. »
Vergne also confided that he had changed engineers for this season, and that these tests were therefore an opportunity to establish a privileged working relationship with his new partner: « I also have my engineer who is here, who is my new engineer, so even if we don’t drive, it’s important that we can look at the data together, work together. He’s a good person, he worked in a team that was world champion before, he comes with a different philosophy, different working methods, so it’s pretty good. »
He has not yet had the chance to drive, he will only start with the wheel of the STR8 on Wednesday, so it is difficult for him to set goals for this 2013 season: « We will wait to see how the car is before setting achievable goals. »
If the goals for 2013 are not yet fully defined, he has a goal for 2014, or at least an ambition, to join Red Bull: « We always race for something. I’m not projecting myself, it would be great (to drive for Red Bull in 2014, ed.), but for now, we’re not there, it’s still in the back of my mind. »
From our special correspondent in Jerez
