Interview
‘It’s very tough to bounce back mentally’ – Weug delighted to overcome early heartbreak as she chases P2 honours
Maya Weug has endured some trials this season, but they’ve only made the Ferrari driver stronger. Despite falling back to seventh in the Drivers’ Standings after Round 3, she’s fought back and now has the Vice Champion honours in her sights.
After failing to score in Barcelona, Weug was left with many questions heading into the summer break, but a double podium in Zandvoort reignited her confidence. Last time out in Singapore marked her strongest weekend of the 2024 campaign with back-to-back P2 finishes, but she didn’t quite have the pace to answer race winner Abbi Pulling.
Even though there’s been bumps in the road, Weug is satisfied with how she’s managed to reassert her place inside the top three.
“Little ups and downs, that summarises it,” she reflected. “We started quite okay in Jeddah. I was not happy with how it went, but the results were there, which was important to get the points we needed to start off the season.
“Then Miami and Barcelona went a bit downwards, especially Barcelona — probably one of the toughest races for me mentally in my career. (We were) just struggling a lot and we had to regroup as a team during the summer break, where they found out what the issue was. After that in Zandvoort and Singapore, we showed that we can be on top.
“Four podium finishes in a row, so I think we’re on a good roll. I’m quite happy with how the car is feeling. Also, here in testing it’s been positive. We’re trying a lot of things and the feeling with the car is back, not how it was at the beginning of the season.”
With her title chances dealt a crushing blow in Barcelona, Weug gave an honest account of the impact the setbacks had on her and highlighted how her turnaround in front of her home crowd in the Netherlands was not a moment too soon.
“Honestly, if it wasn’t for Zandvoort, it would have been really, really bad,” she admitted. “Racing is everything for us and mentally we are always under pressure. When you’re not where you want to be and you’re trying everything and nothing is working, then you feel useless.
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“It’s very tough to bounce back mentally, but when you have the right people around you, there’s always a way to bounce back. I think we did that, which was very important. The confidence boost that Zandvoort and Singapore gave me, we carry into the final two rounds.”
Putting the heartbreak behind her, Weug knows that she’s got a huge task ahead of her, but not an impossible one. Whilst Standings leader Pulling remains out of reach, she has two chances to bridge the 30-point gap to PREMA Racing teammate Doriane Pin in second and she’s determined to experience the taste of victory.
“I really want to win,” Weug stressed. “I want to celebrate on the car, when you’re P2 and P3, you don’t do that. I think we can do it with the work we’re doing in testing. It’s important to continue that streak because now we’re P3 in the Standings, but P2 is possible.
“Abbi is too far unfortunately because we had a poor start to the season. My goal is to try to get close to Doriane in Qatar and try to catch up in the points.”
She added: “Qualifying will be our main focus. In Singapore, we saw that wherever you start, you finish. Apart from the start, where you can make a move like I did. Other than that, it’s really difficult to overtake, which is also what we will expect in Qatar. It’s a difficult track to overtake on with the high-speed corners as the aerowash is quite high.
“We really need to focus on the performance runs in Qatar so that we can start at the front and then look ahead. Abu Dhabi is a different track. There are more straights, more overtaking opportunities. It’s probably more similar to Miami, where the races were interesting and hopefully, they will be as well.”
Spurred on by the close battles in the Drivers’ and Teams’ Standings, Weug is looking to deliver the title back to reigning Champions PREMA and reward the efforts of her crew.
“To be honest, I don’t like to look at the Standings because you want to take it race by race,” she remarked. “I think as soon as you start looking at the Standings, you start being too conservative in some moments and it’s not good.
“It’s nice to see that whoever is in the top six can still finish P3, it’s cool. Also in the Teams’ Standings, we got the lead back after Singapore. That was a positive feeling for the team and we can do a good job because we’re all strong now, the three of us. So, I think we can make it happen.
“I know the mechanics and engineers very well. If you see how hard they work every day, the long nights they spend at the track, then it means a lot for them as well to get that recognition.”
Frank in her assessment of the way her season has panned out, Weug admits that securing second or even third in the Standings would be more than a consolation prize to her after turning around her fortunes.
“It would be a goal achieved for me this year,” she noted. “It’s not where I wanted to be obviously, but after where we were post-Barcelona — being P7 in the Standings — it felt like it was a difficult goal to reach. The feeling is good now and the momentum that we’re carrying is only positive.
“It would be a good end to the season, I would be happy if I finished P2 or P3. If I have a good couple of races with a win and Doriane also does well, then it’s still fine because we went from P7 to P3 in the Standings. It’s not what I would want to be fighting for, but in the end, we made the most of it.”
Weug added: “It’s racing, it’s a sport with a lot of variables. It’s difficult to know what the variable is that is lacking, and especially for people watching, there are a lot of things going on. You can’t always judge the driver, you can’t always judge the car. It’s those small things that add up, so that’s why it’s very important to focus on the details and try to get the most out of it.”