Interview
De Heus targets repeat of 2023 upturn as she looks to bounce back with Barcelona victory
After turning her season around last year with her maiden win in Barcelona, Emely De Heus is hopeful that her return to the Spanish venue can kickstart her 2024 campaign.
A challenging start to the Red Bull Ford driver’s sophomore season has seen her fail to collect any points across the opening two rounds in Jeddah and Miami.
Two P12 finishes in Saudi Arabia were followed up by P11 and P12 results last time out, having dropped outside the points in Race 2 after a post-race penalty. Nevertheless, De Heus believes that she has made a step forward and is feeling positive that she can continue that progress this weekend.
“In Miami we already made a lot of progress compared to Jeddah,” De Heus reflected. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t really show my progress in Qualifying and that’s why the races were really hard, but we saw that we were a lot closer than before.
“Still not where I want to be because I was not really happy with the results, but I think I need to look at the progress that I made. I hope I can make more progress in Barcelona, especially when the races last year went really well.”
When asked what she puts that down to, De Heus cited testing and appearances in Eurocup-3 to giving her the track time needed to focus on perfecting her feeling behind the wheel.
“Right now, I drive a lot more in other cars and do another Championship,” she said. “I think that will help a lot because before I didn’t really have that much track time. I tried to do a lot of sim training, but it's always different than in real life. I worked on that to get more track time and testing days, so I hope that will help a lot for Barcelona.
“I think it's really important because of course you know how to drive a car, but to get that feeling and to be on the limit. Sometimes when you don’t drive for a long time, the feeling can go away a bit and now I stay in the rhythm to keep driving.”
De Heus already knows what it takes to win around the 4.657km circuit, having scored her first pole position and victory in F1 ACADEMY there last year. With extensive testing there across a variety of series, the Dutch racer has plenty of mileage and know-how around the track, in contrast to the first two unfamiliar venues.
“I feel a bit more confident than in Miami because I know the track a bit better,” admitted De Heus. “I hope I can do the same thing as last year because then I was also P15 in the Standings and then suddenly I won out of nowhere. Nobody expected it, so I hope I can do the same thing, get some good points and go for more.
“It was really special because I put a lot of work into it. Like now, sometimes the races don’t really work out how you want it to be and then suddenly, you get a win out of nowhere.
“I think it’s easier to find the right setup because you know what the car is supposed to do on the track. In Miami, you didn’t know if it’s the track with no grip or is it the car setup, so you’d need to figure that out. Then, Qualifying is a few hours later and F1 had been driving on it, so the track is completely different.
“It’s hard to find the right setup because sometimes you go in the wrong direction. I think in Barcelona or at some other tracks I’ve been to, you already know what to expect and then you think ‘okay, the track is now less grippy’ so we know it’s better for Qualifying. On tracks you’ve never been before, you don’t know that, so you need to figure it out.”
Seeking to turn her disappointments around, De Heus made her ambitions for Round 3 plain — put her and MP Motorsport back on the top step where she feels they belong.
“Of course, I want to win again like I did last year,” she noted. “I was in the same situation last year where I didn't really have that many points and I was a bit disappointed about my first two rounds and suddenly that win came. I hope I can do the same thing and at least, I want to be in top five, but I want to go for the win again.”