Being more aggressive and taking more risks: Ayumu Iwasa on his rookie season

Ayumu Iwasa joined on the back of winning French F4 and enjoyed a race-winning rookie season, taking victory in Race 1 at Budapest, as well as a podium in Race 1 at Zandvoort. He finished the season 12th on 52 points.

The Japanese driver penned a guest column following the conclusion of the campaign and gave us his hot takes form the year.

THE BEST BITS – A CHANGE OF APPROACH

“Changing my approach from the beginning of a race weekend. In the first part of the season, my approach was too safe, and I couldn’t find the limit quickly. I changed this and afterwards, I was able to get a good feeling and result from Free Practice.”

AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT – SETTING UP THE CAR

“I need to improve the car set-up and one lap Qualifying performance – especially improving the car set-up was bit difficult in this season. Because I didn't have a lot of experiences, and between F4 and F3, there was a big difference.”

WHAT SURPRISED ME – TYRE MANEGEMENT

“Tyre management. French F4 was using Pirelli, but F3's tyre was completely different. There were differences in the driving style, warming the tyres up and managing the temperature of the tyres.”

WHERE I CAN IMPROVE – QUALFYING

“Of course, everything. But especially my Qualifying performance. My speed was not too bad, but I was losing so much in Qualifying by my mistakes.”

WHAT I LEARNED – MORE AGGRESION

“The need for aggressiveness - I was thinking too much about clean driving and the result, but that that was really bad thing. I think that point will be eternally very important.”

WHAT’S NEXT - TRAINING

“I don't know what my plan is for next year, but I will do my training and simulator training for next year anyway.”