Hirakawa: Talks Took Place About Missing Monza for F1

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI

FIA World Endurance Championship points leader Ryo Hirakawa says there were discussions about him missing the Monza finale to instead race in Formula 1 in Brazil, before Haas opted to field Rafael Camara instead.

Hirakawa made an unexpected F1 race debut in Mexico last weekend when Haas split with driver Esteban Ocon following an argument with the team during Friday practice.

Toyota racer Hirakawa — who was in contention to replace Ocon at Haas full-time next year before FIA Formula 2 points leader Camara got the nod instead — was in Mexico to drive the Haas VF-26 in FP1 and then got the surprise promotion to the race seat, going on to score a point for finishing tenth after post-race penalties were applied.

With Haas since confirming that Ocon would not drive for the team for the rest of the year, there was the potential for Hirakawa to continue for this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix before it was decided that Camara would make his F1 debut at his home race instead.

“There was a discussion,” Hirakawa told reporters at Monza when asked by Sportscar365 about the prospect of racing in Brazil. “I had to wait for a call and the team decided the Brazilian driver — I respect the call.”

Camara has so far been only confirmed for the Interlagos contest and Hirakawa is unsure if he will get the chance to race in any of the three remaining F1 rounds that are scheduled, particularly with Camara due to be in F2 action in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

“I just focus on this weekend and will then see,” he said.

Hirakawa admitted to being “really surprised” to get the call up from Haas, but added: “I had been waiting for that moment and focused on what we could do as a team and maximize my performance in the race.”

Toyota Racing technical director David Floury added he was “extremely happy” that Hirakawa was able to score a point on his F1 debut.

“It’s a great achievement so it’s well deserved for him,” said Floury.

“After that, I think Ryo’s place is here in WEC with us to keep his chance to be a world champion open for sure.”

Hirakawa said there were benefits from making his F1 debut that he can transfer across into his other racing.

“I think the most important thing is how quickly you can adapt in any situation,” he explained.

“It’s very important, not only WEC but any category, no matter what situation you have, you need to adapt — qualifying, race, different tires, fighting with the others, you always need to adapt — and I think this is really helpful because this WEC race you have so many situations you need to adapt to.”

Hirakawa currently enjoys a 17-point lead in the drivers’ championship in the No. 8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid he shares with Brendon Hartley and Sebastien Buemi over the sister machine heading into Sunday’s decider.

Only the pair of Toyota crews are in contention for the title and Hirakawa said “we’re free to race and nothing for team orders.”

“As car No. 8 we have a decent gap to car No. 7 but anything can happen, like our race in Fuji — we didn’t have the pace but with a good strategy call we won it,” he added.

“Anything can happen so we need to keep focusing and pushing.”

Source: Sports Car 365