Nasr - A touch of Arab flavour

Abu Dhabi - Brazilian Nasr, of Lebanese origin has an impressive standing in the F1 list of future hopefuls having won the 2009 Formula BMW Europe championships and the 2011 British Formula 3 honours.

By Moni Mathews

Published: Mon 30 Nov 2015, 9:17 AM

Last updated: Mon 30 Nov 2015, 11:18 AM

The man with an Arab touch on the tracks. This is one livewrire F1 driver in our midst and that is 23-year-old Luiz Felipe de Oliveira Nasr, the full time Sauber ace after a test drive year with the Williams outfit in 2014.
Brazilian Nasr, of Lebanese origin has an impressive standing in the F1 list of future hopefuls having won the 2009 Formula BMW Europe championships and the 2011 British Formula 3 honours.
Nasr said Sauber was determined to keep hold of the eighth position in the Constructors' Championship during Formula 1's season finale at the Etihad backed Abu Dhabi Grand Prix-2015.
Before the start at 5pm on Sunday, Sauber had amassed 36 points after a strong start this season. Nearest rival McLaren-Honda had 27 points. Nasr began Sunday evening's job from the 14^th berth on the grid, and he was focused on beating Pastor Maldonado (Lotus) to 13^th in the drivers' standings.
"I think we made a good improvement compared to the practice sessions and into the finals today (Sunday)," Nasr commented in the afternoon.
"Of course, the starting position is not ideal, but I am still satisfied with the changes we made to the car. I was able to put a good lap together in Q1. In Q2 I then made a small mistake on my second lap into Turn 1, which cost me some time," he said late on Saturday night.
"For the race, the objective is to keep the eighth position in the Constructors' Championship as well as holding onto 13^th in the drivers' championship for me. I think we will come good here," he continued while sharing notes with teammate Marcus Ericsson, the 25-year old Swede who started 18^th on Sunday folllowing a technical issue in qualifying late Saturday night.
Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna is Nasr's racing idol and he is the nephew of Amir Nasr, who runs highly successful south American Formula 3 racing teams that has helped with the progression of many Brazilian drivers in junior formulas. The new hope for Brazil is fond of music and films, loves to fish and speaks Portuguese, English and Italian. Maybe the next time he is around, the fast learning Nasr will be able to basically converse in Arabic as well.