What champions are made of

Felipe Drugovich won the Formula 2 championship three races earlier, after showing to be one of the best drivers on the grid for the whole season. Slowly, step by step, he built a name for himself and brought Brazil, his own country, on top.

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Felipe started his season strong: being immediately competitive, leaving everyone almost shocked as he arrived from a season - in 2021 - that had seen him anonymous, dull and surrendered. He showed up in Bahrain quietly, composed, without too many frills around him: on the grid there was him, his single-seater, and the silence. He worked his way through the "little champions" who were who were already considered possible winners of the championship, drivers supported by academies and second generation drivers, through adversity and malicious tongues, taking his first win of the season in Jeddah and starting, from the Arab country, a superior domination.

We've seen dominant drivers in Formula 2, we surely did, but never like him. Felipe showed that he could win, despite the rain, the crazy strategies, the tricky tracks, but, most importantly, he showed that he could handle any situation. Just as if he had a strange superpower, that allowed him to always get to the finish line - and sometimes he seemed to influence also his opponents and colleagues - as if it had already been written by destiny.

Barcelona probably was the jackpoint of his season: after qualifying tenth, he won the sprint race starting from pole, replicating his performance the day after with an incredible strategy, thanks to the complicity with MP Motorsport's pitwall. This complicity had been noticeable already from the first day of testing: the car was always perfect for Drugo.

Clearly, MP Motorsport was onto something when they signed again the Brazilian for the season - they actually had competed together in F2 during 2020, when Felipe achieved his first win - and knew that if they were able to ensure a consistent car, almost a spaceship, Drugovich could be the right astronaut.

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After a great first part of the season, that saw him win also the race of the races, Monaco, Felipe seemed a bit lost: he still scored points, got his job done on track, but it felt like the Brazilian had gotten a little, in slang terms, "droopy". Pourchaire, his first opponent for the title, had gotten closer and victories seemed so far away that when we left the category during summer break there were no certanities about his final triumph.

Felipe, instead, returned from the holidays as ready as ever to fight. After the pole position at Spa, he collected a fourth place, after an incredible remontada - again, with the help of the team's wicked strategy - and a podium that tasted like a win, as he literally stood out from the rest of the grid.

After Zandvoort's win, everyone expected him to close the championship in Monza, but no one thought he could do it this way.

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Felipe's championship title couldn't have come differently: it seemed like his reflection. It arrived quietly, suddenly, just like Felipe did. A contact with Cordeel put him out of the race during the first lap while Pourchaire was trying to gain as many positions as possible but despite that, he still won it.

Felipe won because there was no room for anyone else: he didn't let himself get distracted, he didn't settle for anything except success. He won while sitting on the pitwall, surrounded by his team's joy and the Italian Tifosi's support. With rosy cheeks for the thousans of emotions he was feeling and a smile that represented perfectly his satisfaction, his gratefulness and his sacrifices.

Felipe built himself, together with a team that knew how to accompany him to the top: quietly, composed and above all, suddenly, o menino do Brasil became campeão by remaining faithful to himself and to his choices.

Parabens Drugo, let's see what's waiting you at the top.