Felipe Nasr joins Robertson Management
Nasr is only the third driver to be represented by the father and son team of David and Steve Robertson. He follows in the footsteps of Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen, both of whom became World Champions.
After achieving huge success in karts Nasr made his car racing debut at the end of 2008 in the Formula BMW Americas event supporting the Brazilian GP, finishing third in one of the races.
He moved to the European series last year, where he proved a convincing title winner, despite the fact that many of his main rivals were in their second full seasons. In the course of the year Felipe won five races, took six pole positions, and set six fastest laps. He was on the podium 14 times in 16 rounds.
He finished the 2009 season with a one-off outing in the Formula BMW Pacific event supporting the Singapore GP, where he achieved a clean sweep of pole, victory and fastest lap in both races.
Felipe’s talent was recognized by the Robertsons, who gave him an F3 test in an RRR car at Silverstone in October. They believe that he has the potential to follow in Raikkonen and Button’s footsteps and become a World Champion.
Steve Robertson: “Due to the success that we’ve had as a management company (we have) been inundated with drivers approaching us. We’ve always been very particular regarding the drivers we get involved with, and we want to make sure, as far as we can, that the next driver follows on and is successful as the previous driver. As far as Felipe is concerned, the BMW championship is on the F1 calendar so we’ve had the opportunity to watch him. Last season was his first year of car racing, and he dominated that championship with pole positions and wins and podiums.
I see a lot of the qualities that I saw in Kimi. He’s super quick, he’s got unbelievable car control, and he doesn’t make mistakes. He has that special talent that doesn’t come along that often, and he has the right mental attitude as well, which is another big thing that a driver needs. We don’t just want a driver who’s going to get to F1 – that’s not good enough for us. We want a driver who’s got the potential to be World Champion."
Felipe Nasr: “I’m very happy to be involved with Steve and Dave, because as everyone knows they’ve already had two World Champions in F1. As soon as I got the offer I knew that it was absolutely the best option. They are guys who work hard and are out to win everything they are involved with. It’s the best thing that’s happened in my career so far. I want to get into F1, and I know that they can make this dream of mine come true.
It will be great to work with everyone in the RRR team. We need to wait until the testing starts to see how we go. It’s just my second year in cars, so it will be very hard. But I’m here to win, and I think we can take wins this year. If I can take the title it will be great, but if not, we’ll aim for next year. I want to make a good impression in my first year, so let’s see."