Motorsports
Javier Sagrera puts ‘milli’ in English to reach F1
With a childlike fantasy dreaming of reaching Formula 1. That’s how he came to his MD. He will be waiting for you in a private room in the Barcelona Newsroom. So he sat next to his laptop and had to lean back to explain his sports career. he didn’t need to open it. His greatest value, in everything I’ve learned in the last two years, was his personality. Javier Sagrera (2004/01/12)of Torella de Montgri From a young age, (Girona) attracted the attention of motorsport greats such as Marc Gené, Jordi Gené, Miguel Molina, Mariano Molina and the famous engineer Chus Sanchez. They were his great supporters until he moved from karting to Formula 4 in Spain. The pilot faced the national competition with a lack of experience and was not able to shine. At that time, he wanted to pursue his dream and completely change his life. He decided to bet everything on motorsport.he sat in front of his father, his businessman Javier Sagreraand called her mother, who is an actress Monica Pong, currently living in Mexico. He gave them a message. He wanted to drop out of school and focus fully on his car dream.
“I told them, ‘It’s very simple. The car has a period of time. When the time runs out, you can’t go back. It’s only now. If the car doesn’t work out, you can always You can go back to your research and add to it the experiences you have had and have lived with this. Parents were faced with complex problems. However, they decided to support their son’s dream. The boy flew to England and started a new life driving alone in the prestigious British Formula 3. A lot of talent came out of it. He searched his life and learned from his successes, mistakes, decisions and actions. I use “miri” in English. “I did well in my studies,” he told his MD Sagrera of his first year of social high school. “But I missed a total of four months of school during all the competitions I’ve been to.” Added. “I couldn’t do both at 50%. I have to do one thing well. And I decided to do what I’m really passionate about, my dream, 100%.”he pointed out.
England, the land of engines
“I went to England with a suitcase. He lived in the apartment next door to the team. i was in london 1st year, northernmost. I worked with the team every day,” he emphasizes. He could have opted for his F4 in Spain, one of the highest-promoting championships in the world, but required major changes to allow him to accumulate more mileage. . He knew he wanted to go to England because he wanted more filming time in 2021 and he wanted to work with his new team, Elite, because he knew he could work with motorsport every day. ”The team organizes every day by creating a test plan that is handed to you when you sign the contract. It was like being in an academy. The routine was about two days a week of test driving, one day of the week in the simulator, another two days of his week traveling to the track and the rest in the simulator in the factory. Or I was learning with mechanics, whatever it was.
“I took my suitcase and went to England by myself.
There, he believed he would find all the ingredients to progress as a pilot. “I really want to train as a driver and the English work methodology, hours on the track and what an English circuit gives you creates the perfect environment for a driver. European circuits are not the same width as British circuits. My favorite track, Brands Hatch, is so tight there’s no room for error. The wheel needs to be 1mm away from the grass to go fast, and when it touches the grass it’s 5m to the wall.It’s an old school circuit where everyone trains like old pilotswithout making mistakes, as a pilot I have to run to the 30 lap limit without overbraking because I will be outsideIt’s also very technical with lots of blind corners. You learn a lot,” he emphasizes.
“In England it’s all about old school circuits where you train like an old-school driver. At Brands Hatch you need your wheels a millimeter off the grass to go fast. When you touch it, it’s five meters to the wall.”
master of life
Javier’s learning went far beyond the circuit. That was what surprised him the most. The little boy is like the boy who, at 16, got on a plane to London without a return ticket. “I left alone with my suitcase. Lol.) I had to buy new clothes because I couldn’t find any that fit me.It’s an experience and a learning experience. Being able to learn it at 16 is what shaped me. I am grateful to my parents for giving me this opportunity. ”he expressed.
He also learned to move behind the scenes for support. This is very important in sports where money is almost everything. “I got there and there was no representative or anything. After 17 years, I took a train, went to the company office, and introduced myself. and it was fun They were shocked that the kid had the courage to go to the office alone, sit down with a laptop, explain his sports career, and convince him why he had to bet. . ”stands out between laughter.
“Sometimes I would hold meetings to get national teams and sponsorships…and at 16, 17 I would get on the train, go to the company office and introduce myself. It shocked them.”
“Things like that have helped me a lot. I’m not saying how it should be done because it’s not normal and everyone has their specialty. , I will also train you to evaluate it, sell my project as a pilot and see what happens. And this has helped me a lot,” he said. Added.
Two years in British F3 looking for a great future
On the track, in his first year with the elite motorsport team, he achieved some fast laps and good times. On his first course he settled in and his talent caught the attention of the best teams.He tested with a nontrivial assembly like Carlin, Hitec GP, Fortec. He then chose Carlin, one of the most important teams internationally in the promotion category., for example, trained by Lando Norris, among other talents. Precisely though, the 2022 track saw a change in the category car, and Carlin struggled to adapt to this new car. “The expectations were very high at the beginning of the season. The adaptation to the car was not good and it was difficult to understand the car well. The engine had many problems. The power unit was 3 CV lower than he needed and by the time he realized he had already finished 3 races. I passed,” commented MD about it.
It was then that Javier showed an ability to work things out on his own as a result of how mature he had become in Britain. He gathered the whole team at the table and spoke his mind. No hold barred From that moment on, there was a before and after. “From the race where they changed my engine, we met them and sat with them and told them what they thought needed to be changed. told them the truth, and from that race to the last, I was the Carlin driver with the most points in the second half of the season. In the race after that meeting I got my first podium of the season and finished 2nd and 3rd in several categories… I knew I was 12 kg over. Still, things got better and they were always the first team in the standings. ” Yes, I read it correctly. Javier Sagrera had a weight handicap. He was driving his car with over 12 kilos of his luggage.
“It was a tough meeting, but I told them the truth, and from that race to the last race, I was the Carlin driver with the most points in the second half of the season.”
“Being a tall driver, I am 1.87. In the UK there is a perfect minimum weight for a pilot who weighs around 65 kg, but for a pilot like me who weighs 77 kg it will destroy him. My teammate weighed 590 kg and I weighed 602 kg. It’s a reality. And my two buddies of him were 1.70 and I was his 1.87,” he stressed.
The clearest example of how his greater weight has adjusted him can be found at the last round of the year. straight. I was 6th, 3 tenths behind the pole and could have been first, but I was 0.5 tenths behind everyone. ”Nevertheless, with the enormous amount of learning on and off the track, he rated his time in England positively and has already closed that door and returned to Spain to think about his next steps.
“I only have plan ‘A'”
After two years in London, now Javier Sagrera He prepares for his next challenge in Girona. Consider options to jump to higher promotion categories. And he does it with confidence that he can reach F1 in the future.
“Formula 1 is my dream. I have the talent within me and I know I am good. It’s good to believe in it, not in an arrogant way. i know i can do it. It’s important to be at the right time and place, so there are moments of luck, but luck is also up to you,” the 18-year-old added, adding that he already has a management structure behind him and his sponsors. who has helped him in recent years.
“Formula 1 is my dream.
“My only plan is F1. There is no plan ‘B’. The only plan is “A”. All of my energy and attention is focused on getting to F1. I want to end my sports career by saying I did everything I could. I play it I accept it But for some reason it didn’t come out, I’m 100% sure it will come out, so I’m not thinking about it. I can say that what I learned in these two years alone was already worth it. that”Sagrera believes it’s worth not only trying, but doing everything in his power to achieve it.
Source: Mundo Deportivo
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.