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Formula 2 adventure for 'slow' Koolen is over: AIX already say goodbye
- Ludo van Denderen
It is no surprise, but Niels Koolen's Formula 2 adventure is already over after just two race weekends. His team AIX Racing has confirmed to GPblog that the Dutchman will not return as Joshua Dürksen's teammate for the last two weekends in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Initially for two weekends, Koolen was brought in - thanks to money from his wealthy father - to AIX Racing, succeeding Taylor Barnard, who had switched to Formula E. Had Koolen done fine at Monza and Baku, the German team would certainly have considered continuing with him for longer. But to put it gently, Koolen was not successful.
Koolen disappears into the distance in Baku
This weekend in Azerbaijan, Koolen was laughed at as he was 10 seconds slower than Emerson Fittipaldi in free practice. In qualifying, although he did slightly better, the difference to the pole sitter was still almost seven seconds. In the sprint race, the former driver in Indy NXT series was at one point 77 seconds behind the leader, until a safety car brought the entire field back together. The main race ended quite quickly for him after his car was damaged.
On social media, Koolen has been a hot topic in recent days. On X, for example, people wondered if Koolen was the worst driver of all time in F2? So after the feature race, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Richard Verschoor were asked what they thought of Koolen's performances. That question generated quite a bit of laughter in the press room, but Antonelli and Verschoor then clearly recalled what they learned in media training classes.
"He didn't cause any red flags so that's why I didn't realise," said Antonelli, who pointed out that he didn't even notice it at all that Koolen was so slow. "It's not easy of course but also because he just came into F2 and he doesn't have a lot of experience in single-seaters so I think here he did a good job, he didn't cause any red flags."
Dutchman Verschoor did not find Koolen 'terrible'
Verschoor, the Dutchman who won the feature race, confessed that he talked to the newcomer's father: "I spoke to his father shortly and he's only been in Formula Racing for two years. So of course we cannot expect for him to be on the pace. It's not easy to go into F2. Of course Monza was a bit easier for him and okay, he's not on the pace, but it's not terrible. Here it's not easy."
"You have the feeling the F2 car goes twice as quick between the walls. Then the last two corners to do flat, it's not easy. So I think it was just for him to gain experience. I think they have different plans for next year. Just wish him best of luck," Verschoor said.
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi
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