Nakamura-Berta reflects on ‘big learning day’ after ending up fastest in Jerez

Kean Nakamura-Berta hailed a productive opening day of post-season testing in Jerez, with the TRIDENT driver ending up at the top of the leaderboard.

The British rookie showed good pace throughout the day before going to the top of the timesheets late in the afternoon session.

Nakamura-Berta’s 1:31.169 put him on top by 0.002s to Campos Racing’s Mattia Colnaghi, with Ernesto Rivera rounding out the top three – 0.011s off the leading time.

Speaking in the paddock after debriefing with the team, Nakamura-Berta reflected on a positive day of running in Jerez.

“Overall it was a very productive day,” he said. “We were learning loads of new stuff with this new car, and obviously the jump to F3 is massive, so it's just been a big learning day.

“Obviously tomorrow will be as well, and so will Barcelona next week. But it's been really, really fun to drive around here.

“The track is insane, it's super fun, and it's challenging in parts, heavy braking, high speed as well. So it's really good to develop and then understand how to drive the car.

“Everyone's testing different things and different run plans, but I think it's been positive. The pace definitely doesn't look too shabby. But there's loads to improve on and work on as well, so we just keep going forwards.”

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When asked what his takeaways were about the Formula 3 car after one day of running, Nakamura-Berta spoke about the different things he has to learn and adapt too.

“One lap on the peak to get the tyre into that working optimal temperature is quite difficult,” he explained. “That's been a key thing for me, at least today.

“I really struggled the majority of the day to do it, and towards the end we started to find a good rhythm. But I definitely still need to work on a lot of things to improve and work on.

“But it's been a really solid first day. The team have been incredible, and we have worked really well, so we just keep going.”

Looking ahead to Day 2 in Jerez, Nakamura-Berta and TRIDENT still have a few tyres remaining, and while chasing fast times is fun, he says the focus will remain on improving further in the car.

“We have tyres left, we have Mediums left, we also have Hards left,” said Nakamura-Berta. “So we'll just keep on our plan, we'll just keep working within ourselves internally.

“We’ve got incredible data from the past, loads of really strong drivers have come through this team, so we've got good data there to compare too.

“So that's what we'll just be comparing to, and we will just have a little glance at the timesheets once in a while, but it’s mainly about working inside and just trying to learn as much as possible before the season starts.”