Interview
Larsen hails 'over our expectations' performance after P4 finish in Shanghai Race 2
Alba Larsen closed out her first F1 ACADEMY weekend in superb form, sealing a top-four finish in Race 2 around the Shanghai International Circuit.
Qualifying in third, the Tommy Hilfiger driver didn’t underestimate the task she’d have trying to hold on to it. Fending off repeated attempts from Chloe Chambers, it wasn’t until the penultimate tour that the Red Bull Ford driver was finally able to make her way past her for the final podium spot.
Beaming after the race, Larsen said she was satisfied with how she’d performed in the fight and added: “I wasn’t expecting to keep on to the P3 as well as I did. It was quite hard with Chloe behind me. We fought good and it was a close battle. Unfortunately, I only finished P4, but I think it’s such a good result, over our expectations.”
Netting a 14-point haul across the weekend so early on will do wonders to boosting Larsen’s confidence going forward, with the 16-year-old stressing the importance of making the most of these chances when they come.
“I wasn’t expecting to be finishing up there already and be fighting for podiums,” she admitted. “It’s really nice to get some points for the Standings. Also, you can always get unlucky further down the season, so I think it’s important to score the points now.”
Larsen now sits fifth in the Standings but believes her racecraft has room for improvement to match the pace she showed in Qualifying — where she was consistently around the top three throughout the session.
“I think my Qualifying was really good,” she said. “I’ve been working a lot on getting the lap times in early on and I managed to do that in Qualifying. I just need to do that every time and I think my racecraft and defending needs to be even better. I need to improve being more consistent in the race.”
Excited by the prospect of putting that into action next time out in Jeddah, the Dane is optimistic about her chances in Round 2 and says the in-season test should help her in levelling the playing field for the rookies.
“It’s going to be really cool,” said Larsen. “I’m excited for every race we have. Hopefully, I can be up there fighting again. But it’s a track that some of the drivers have been to, so I think maybe they’ll have an advantage.
“We have the test beforehand, which is really good, I’m looking forward to it. The test will be really, really useful. Without the test it would be really difficult because some of the drivers have already been to Jeddah, so it’s really going to help me.”