Interview
‘We’ve been waiting for this one a long time’ – Gademan relieved to deliver emotional maiden victory
Nina Gademan has watched her first F1 ACADEMY win slip out of her hands twice before, but the Alpine driver couldn’t have asked for a better day to finally deliver it.
It's been a whirlwind 24 hours for Gademan. Absent from Free Practice 2 after being declared unfit to drive, she bounced back by qualifying in P8. Lining up on reverse grid pole for Race 1, the Dutch racer kept the pack firmly behind for 17 laps.
Taking the chequered flag over two seconds clear of Lia Block, Gademan’s long-awaited win had an extra specialness, coming at her home event and on her 22nd birthday.
“During the race, I kept my head down because you can't let the emotions get away with you,” she reflected. “I had a really good start and a really good first few laps until the Safety Car came out. Basically, I did what my Team Manager told me to do with the Safety Car restart and had a good restart.
“I had quite a big gap already to the girl behind and from then on, I was just trying to manage Lia. In the beginning, I could push a lot and then obviously at the end, it gets a bit tougher for me. I created a really big gap, so I made myself safe. Then Maya came to Lia, so I knew I was safe. In the last five laps it was just about bringing it home.”
Recognising the difficulty of overtaking around Zandvoort, Gademan explained how she set about using the track’s characteristics to her advantage.
“First of all, I would say Maya did a mega job,” she noted. “Coming from P8 to P3, that’s absolutely insane. She was fast, so it does prove we can do it and it’s just nice to see such good racecraft.
“I knew that when Lia would only be slightly faster, it would be super hard for her because if you defend in Turn 1 and Turn 11, there are almost no other overtaking (opportunities). I like overtaking in Turn 9 but then others don’t really do that. So I knew it was going to be tough for Lia as well.”
Two wins had already slipped out of Gademan's grasp this season. Leading for 27 laps across Shanghai Race 1 and Montreal Race 2, she led the most laps without a win until today, but the presence of her home fans makes the win all that sweeter.
“We’ve been waiting for this one a long time,” she said. “Obviously, Race 1 in Shanghai with the technical issues. This should have been our third win already!
“I’m super happy now to take it at my home race, it’s really special. Then to see so many fans in the stands is so nice and then (for them) to cheer me on as well on the podium. They were almost constantly cheering me on the whole time, it’s just fantastic.”