Pål Varhaug is aiming to be Norway’s first ever Formula One driver. The 19-year-old talent was crowned “Talent of the year” by the Norwegian Autosport Federation in 2007 and became the youngest champion ever in the Italian Formula Renault 2,0 Championship in 2008. In 2009 he was one of the top runners in Formula Master and now in 2010 he is competing in the inaugural season of our Series, GP3. We met with the young driver who will always been known as the first ever GP3 race winner!
Pål was born in Norway, a country best known in the motorsport world for its love of rally driving, but this didn’t stop the young charge from pursuing his dream of becoming Formula One’s first ever Norwegian driver.
He began his motorsport career in Karting in 2005 and hasn’t looked back since. In 2007 Pål moved up into single-seaters where he began his relationship with Jenzer Motorsport. In an impressive start to his single-seater career he took seven podium places over the course of the season, including four race wins, to finish as runner-up in the championship. In 2008 Pål had what he states as his “best career moment so far, except for my GP3 win” when he was crowned Italian Formula Renault 2.0 champion, again with Jenzer.
In 2009 the Norwegian competed in the International Formula Masters series, once again staying with the Swiss team, and finished fifth in the standings.
In 2010 Pål wrote himself into the motorsport history books by becoming the first ever GP3 Series winner. Speaking about his victory he said: “It’s such a special victory for me. GP3 is a brand new Series and to be the first ever winner is something I will always remember. The Series is very good, and the competition is very high so it’s really special for me.”
“Norway has never had a Formula One driver so the fan base is quite small, and they don’t really know much about the racing – they prefer football! I work really hard with my team back home in Norway to get as much exposure as possible and my win in Barcelona was all over the media and was really big news. We got a lot of attention and the amount of people following the racing is growing. Hopefully this will help my career and help me in my search for sponsors.
“My country has already helped me a lot with a personal trainer who comes to all my races, and a nutritionist. But hopefully now the interest is growing things will get even better.”
Talking about the GP3 car Pål noted: “It’s a very different car to what I have raced before. The turbo especially makes the car handle differently to what I am used to. We’re struggling with understeer but we’re getting better all the time. In Barcelona when I won the race we qualified in the rain and I’m quite good in the rain so I got a good position. Then in the race I had a good set up. The slow corners are where we’re struggling the most, but I’m liking the car more and more as the season progresses.”
In 2010 Pål has already had to contend with a lot of new circuits, but the Norwegian seems unfazed by the challenge: “The street circuit is Valencia was probably the hardest to learn so far, but I’ve raced on a street circuit before in Pau, and Valencia had big run off areas so I didn’t worry about it too much beforehand. A lot of the other circuits are new to me and we only have Friday practice to learn them, but I’m confident I can still do a good job and learn quickly.”
The steep learning curve is no doubt helped by the close relationship Pål has with his team, Jenzer Motorsport: “This is my fourth season with Jenzer now so I know all the people really well. It’s a great team and I know they work well and can overcome the challenges a new series and car brings to give me a winning car.”
Even racing in front of the Formula One fraternity doesn’t seem to faze the confident 19-year-old: “To be honest I don’t consciously think about it because otherwise it would ruin my concentration. I’m just trying to race as normal and get used to being part of the Formula One weekend. For sure being part of the F1 calendar attracted me to the Series, but mainly it was just because I knew it would be a good Series to further my racing career.”
A racing career which includes very clear personal goals for Pål in 2010: “Once I get the car working how I want I am hoping to finish the season in the top five. I think we will finish the season strong because we are improving round by round. The first race was obviously fantastic, but in Istanbul it wasn’t as good for me. I didn’t know the track and I didn’t get the car working for me. In Valencia we improved. Obviously I would like to win the whole Series, this is why I'm here, this is my goal, but I think top five is realistic for us.”
All things considered 2010 is looking set to be a good year for the Jenzer driver: “We are still learning the car at every round, especially set-up wise, but I know as soon as I get the car working for me I can good a good job. I’m a really fast driver, and I’m confident in myself and know that I can do very well.”
So do we Pål. Good luck for the rest of the 2010 season!