Jordan, Coulthard agree 23-y/o ‘great talent’ Williams snubbed should be in F1

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Eddie Jordan is ‘absolutely certain’ that Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich should be racing in Formula 1 and David Coulthard agrees that he ‘deserves a crack’.

The 23-year-old will spend a second successive season on the sidelines in 2024. Drugovich is an understudy to Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll for Aston Martin after joining the team in September 2022. But he has not paired his role with a race seat in another championship.

Drugovich last turned a wheel in anger in November 2022 whilst rounding out his emphatic Formula 2 title-winning campaign. The Brazilian obliterated the field with MP Motorsport to claim the title with 265 points. Sauber protégé Theo Pourchaire finished in second with 164.

Felipe Drugovich won the 2022 Formula 2 title with a record margin

It remains the biggest title-winning margin in Formula 2’s history since GP2 Series rebranded in 2017. Oscar Piastri, now a Formula 1 star with McLaren, took the title in 2021 by a margin of 60.5 points. While Pourchaire only won the title for 2023 over Frederik Vesti by 11 points.

Ferrari star Charles Leclerc won the inaugural Formula 2 title as a rookie in 2017 by a margin of 72 points. Mercedes ace George Russell also beat McLaren driver Lando Norris for the F2 crown for 2018 as a rookie by 68 points. They were the previous-best winning margins in F2.

Drugovich also won titles in MRF Challenge Formula 2000 during 2017/18, plus Euroformula Open and the Spanish Formula 3 championships in 2018. The Brazilian got his FIA Formula 2 title during the Maringa, Parana native’s third season in the main feeder series to Formula 1.

Eddie Jordan is ‘absolutely certain’ Felipe Drugovich should be in F1

Yet despite his dominance of Formula 2 in 2022 with five wins – including four Feature races – Drugovich remains without a Formula 1 seat and acts as Aston Martin’s reserve driver. But former F1 team owner Jordan is resolute that he should be on the grid as Brazil needs a star.

“There’s a young name that people probably aren’t really aware of,” Jordan told the Formula for Success podcast. “He’s Brazilian – and god knows we need a Brazilian back in Formula 1. And the interesting thing is he’s also Italian, so Italian-Brazilian.

“We have no Italian driver, so it makes all sorts of sense and that’s Felipe Drugovich. He’s won the Formula 2 championship by an absolute mile, and even a bigger gap than what Oscar did. So, therefore, I’m absolutely certain. He’d probably even be my No1 choice.”

Jordan believes F1 needs a Brazilian driver as it is a ‘great commercial market’ and relished homegrown champions in Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Emerson Fittipaldi. Yet Senna in 1991 is still the last Brazilian Formula 1 champion for his third title while racing for McLaren.

“I can’t believe there hasn’t been a potential world champion,” Jordan added. “We’ve seen [Felipe] Massa and, of course, we’ve seen [Rubens] Barrichello. The place was swamped at one stage by absolute brilliance. And to think that they have got no one at the moment.

“That’s who I would be going for because I think it’s a country that needs a Formula 1 driver and I think the people there would get behind him. So, I think there would be a budget available. And who knows, in time, I’d probably try and sell him to Ferrari.”

Williams snubbed Felipe Drugovich to retain Logan Sargeant for 2024

Coulthard also agreed with Jordan that Drugovich is ‘definitely a great talent’ who ‘deserves a crack’ at Formula 1. But he will now spend a second season on the sidelines after Williams snubbed Drugovich in favour of retaining Logan Sargeant as one of their F1 drivers for 2024.

Reports by Blick in September noted that Williams held negotiations with Drugovich about a seat beside Alex Albon. The Grove team even spoke with the Brazilian for weeks. Joe Saward also reported last September that Drugovich turned down replacing Zhou Guanyu at Sauber.

Drugovich did not want to replace Zhou as Alfa Romeo became Stake F1 Team to break into Formula 1 and receive the tag of a pay driver. Initially, he hoped a year as Alonso and Stroll’s understudy could offer him a race seat with Aston Martin but it did not materialise for him.

Plus, despite Jordan now feeling Drugovich could come with a budget, the youngster did not have the funds Sauber sought. So, he has had to settle for a seat on the bench in Silverstone again this year. Formula 1 might now pass him by without racing a single lap in a Grand Prix.