Q&A Robert Doornbos

After a ‘fine first day at the office’ INSIGHTF1.COM had a brief chat with Robert about his F1 debut with Jordan Grand Prix.

IF1: TELL US, WAS IT LIKE YOU EXPECTED IT TO BE?
RD: “Well, I didn’t really have huge expectations as it all went pretty quick the last few days. I only focussed on doing a good job at first, but when I finally did my first run, I was ofcourse pleasantly surprised by the EJ-14’s power. I’ll never forget that feeling!”

IF1: WHAT IS MORE EXCITING: ACCELERATING OR BRAKING IN A F1?
RD: “When I exited the pitlane after having driven the car on its pitlimiter, I was really being pushed in my chair like never before. After a few laps though, you start to get familiarised with that. The braking felt more phenomenal. When after three corners the brakes were on temperature, I tried to brake real hard for the first time in my first stint: it felt like walking up to a doorpost! Really unbelievable!”

IF1: HOW DID THE TEAM AND YOUR TEAMMATES RESPOND AFTERWARDS?
RD: “Eddie Jordan said to me he’d never seen a driver before who acclimatisated himself so quick like I did. That’s a fair compliment, not? The team itself was also happy with my job as I was able to do some extra things for them, they hadn’t expected me to do in this short period of time. I also had a good time with Timo Glock, who I already knew from my F3 days.”

IF1: WE ALSO HEARD YOU GOT A $3750 FINE FOR PITLANE SPEEDING?
RD: “Yeah, that was a funny story too! After my installationlap I returned to the pits, as suddenly halfway the pitlane my car started to accelerate beyond its speedlimit. It was a mistake of the team as they programmed the system for a pitlane length of 345 meters instead of the 400 meters it actually is! So they offered me to pay the bill. Otherwise I would have had to call my dad with the message ‘Hi dad, F1 is brilliant! By the way, can I borough $4000 from you?’, haha!”

IF1: AND WHAT’S NEXT?
RD: “I’ll be here the entire weekend learning as many things as possible. It really feels like F1 University to me. I ask my engineer around 150 questions a day in order to get to know as much as possible. On Tuesday I’ll fly back to The Netherlands for a few days in the gym, as Japan is physically pretty tough with its quick corners. Brasil is also expected to be tough because the circuit is run anti-clockwise and has many double apexes.”

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