Interview
Florescu determined to defend podium hopes after delivering in ‘tricky’ Qualifying debut at Zandvoort
Zoe Florescu was thrown straight in at the deep end in her first F1 ACADEMY Qualifying session, but the Zandvoort Wild Card driver didn’t faulter on her way to securing a top seven spot.
A downpour ahead of the session left Florescu facing a wet track, which was evolving corner-by-corner as it began to dry. A strong initial run on the wet tyres put her into P2 on the timesheets before the second Red Flag.
Swapping to slicks for the final five minutes, the Dirt Is Good driver held her nerve and navigated her way through the traffic to qualify in seventh.
Speaking after Qualifying, Florescu was pleased to have achieved such a strong result given the hectic 30-minutes of running.
“It's a great starting point for the weekend,” she said. “It was really tricky with the tyres and I stayed on wets very long. Then when I switched to slicks, there wasn’t a lot of temperature in the tyres, so I really had to work on getting them up to temperature.
“I think that the last half was pretty good. I'm just happy to have a front row start and then to also have a more challenging race tomorrow.”
Working in partnership with her Hitech team, Florescu enjoyed the opportunity to test her adaptability. With conditions expected to dry out by the time she lines up on the front row Reverse Grid Race this afternoon, the Romanian is determined to fend off the field’s advances and secure the series’ second-ever Wild Card podium.
“We were definitely unsure of what to do because I felt like some areas were still wet,” admitted Florescu. “Sector 2 was fully dry but the last corner and then the main straight were still wet, so I was a bit unsure whether I could improve.
“We made the right decision in the end. It was great to feel the car a lot more, handle that oversteer and put a lap together.”
She added: “I feel like consistency is going to be key because it's such a tricky track. It's very flowy, so if you do a mistake it's really hard to focus again. I feel in myself, I’m a very good and consistent driver, which will be very helpful and just get a good start. It's a hard track to overtake, so I know that it will be easy to defend.”