Why the latest F1 expat to try IndyCar can be a hit

When Felipe Nasr got the call on 1 February from Carlin's IndyCar team manager Colin Hale to attend a test at Sebring the following day, he had a slight problem. The former Sauber Formula 1 driver was in his native Brazil, having a barbecue with his parents, and all direct flights to Florida were fully booked.

After a three-hour connecting flight to Fortaleza, Nasr flew another eight hours overnight and landed in Miami around 9am, took a taxi home and then drove the 2.5 hours to Sebring, where he scoffed down a sandwich offered by his mechanics, checked his belts and seat, and went on to top the times - despite missing the morning's running.

All the more impressive was that it was only his second time in an IndyCar, after sharing with Sergio Sette Camara in a rain-blighted test at COTA in which he "only drove 20 or 30 laps".

Nasr is quick to point out that only around 80% of the grid was present at Sebring, but it's hardly the point. It's not too many drivers who, once accustomed to being treated like a deity in F1, would willingly lump it in economy just to attend a test session. But Nasr is no prima donna and is serious about grasping this latest opportunity to revive his single-seater career.

"Sometimes we have to take ourselves out of that comfort zone," he tells Autosport after his planned IndyCar debut with Carlin in St Petersburg was halted by the coronavirus pandemic.

"I could have been complaining the whole way, 'I didn't sleep all night, I didn't have breakfast, I didn't have this' until I sat in the car, but I didn't. All I said was, 'Here's an opportunity, that's why I love racing and why I choose to be a racing driver.'"

The 27-year-old will have to be patient to discover when he'll next get a chance in IndyCar, given the continued uncertainty over the schedule and the fact that his main commitment is in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with Action Express Racing, the team with which he won the 2018 title and added victories in the Sebring 12 Hours and Petit Le Mans last year. And should Carlin sign a driver who brings budget for its second Dallara-Chevy, Nasr's IndyCar foray may be over before it begins.

But he admits that he's already "thinking way ahead of time" about doing ovals in the future and getting a proper shot at the series. If he does, the opposition should sit up and take notice.

"The Felipe I know and respect is a very well-rounded driver and I don't think people understand quite how much of a talent he is" Iain Watt, Nasr's IMSA race engineer

The path from IMSA to IndyCar isn't exactly a well-trodden one, with Scott Pruett and Robby Gordon (two wins apiece) the main success stories. But neither had Nasr's luxury of an extensive background on the European single-seater scene to aid their transition and he is already comfortable in the team environment, having worked with many of its staff before.

"I think that was the place where I learned the most as a driver when talking about set-up and about understanding the technical side," Nasr says of his time at Carlin, with which he won the 2011 British F3 title and took four victories in GP2.

"They were running six cars at that time in F3, and there's so much you can learn in that environment talking to different engineers, different drivers. That accelerated the process of being a more complete driver, so all I have is good memories from Carlin."

After a 2014 season in which Nasr finally broke his GP2 duck - at the 50th attempt, at Barcelona - and challenged Jolyon Palmer for the title, he graduated to F1 with Sauber in 2015. He was fifth on his debut in the Australian GP and scored another good haul of points with sixth in the Russian GP to comfortably outscore team-mate Marcus Ericsson.

But 2016 was a struggle as Sauber battled against a lack of funds, and it was only Nasr's ninth place at Interlagos that lifted it above Manor for 10th in the constructors' championship, thereby saving the Swiss team while condemning Manor. Yet it wasn't enough to keep his F1 career alive, as Sauber replaced him with Pascal Wehrlein for 2017, while new investment ensured Ericsson - who failed to score in 2016 - kept his seat.

Following a year on the sidelines, Nasr bounced back by winning the IMSA title at the first attempt in 2018, and forged a close working relationship with Scottish engineer Iain Watt. Having previously worked in the Indycar paddock with drivers of the calibre of Cristiano da Matta, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan, Watt has a good understanding of what is needed for success, so when he says people don't realise how talented Nasr is, it's worth listening.

"I've known him since 2011 when we first tested him as part of the Sunoco Challenge at Daytona and we've kept in touch all these years," says Watt.

"The Felipe I know and respect is a very well-rounded driver and I don't think people understand quite how much of a talent he is. I've watched him mature and ultimately become IMSA champion. For a 27-year-old he's pretty mature."

Although there's relatively little ostensibly in common between the Cadillac DPi he races in IMSA and the Dallara IR-18, Watt (below, right) says the skills Nasr has picked up with Action Express will serve him well in IndyCar.

"Sportscar racing teaches drivers that they're part of a team, as opposed to they're the rockstars and everybody else is there to serve them," says Watt.

"In sportscars they're reliant on their team-mates and the team for strategy; there's many more aspects to winning races than just driving flat-out the whole day.

"It sounds a simple thing, but it's a good skill for drivers to understand, especially in America where you can race your ass off to build up a 30-second lead, and then the yellow comes out and it's all gone. All you've done is wear your equipment out and the guy that was 30s behind you is now right on your tail and there's nothing you can do about it."

"There are a lot of drivers that can be quick, but a driver that can give guidance to the team and know if they're going to the wrong or the right direction is what makes the difference, and that's what I focus on" Felipe Nasr

Racecraft shouldn't be a problem for Nasr either, Watt reckons.

"Because they're dealing with GT cars, good sportscar drivers also tend to be very good at overtaking," he says. "They're overtaking five or six times a lap quite often, so that's quite a good skill for a racecar driver to have - the ability to overtake and understand risk management."

But according to Watt, where Nasr really shines is in his technical competence, cultivated from racing in several different categories in recent years. He made a three-race Formula E cameo with Dragon last year, which ultimately came to little: he was 19th in Mexico City, thwarted by floor and suspension damage; he crashed in Hong Kong after his front wing was dislodged in a first-corner fracas; and he didn't even get off the line in Sanya. But it only served to broaden his experience.

"Some drivers are no good at testing but they're good at racing, and some can do both - Felipe falls into that category," Watt says. "He's using 50% of his brain to drive the car and the other 50% is analysing what's going on, as opposed to using 100% of his brain to drive, in which case you come in and there's not much to say."

When speaking to Nasr, it's clear that he too regards the diversity of his career as a strength that Carlin can utilise.

"Funnily enough, this month was going to be a full schedule for me because I was going to do the St Pete race, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and then I was going to fly back to do the first round of the Brazilian Stock Cars, where they always bring a guest driver," he says.

"Doing 10 races in IMSA is fantastic, but if you can do more than that it's fantastic, so I'm really thankful that Action Express lets me do that. Every time you hit a track, you read the track better, you read the car better, your conversations with the engineer, you become more aware of everything and you know where to put your energy.

"Speed is one thing, but then you start working on other areas that I think are pretty key to establish yourself as a professional race driver - it's your attitude, it's being a team player, it's so many more things than just being quick, and the different cars that I drove so far in my career all helped me to be a better driver."

He overshadowed new Chip Ganassi Racing signing Ericsson - a podium finisher in his rookie season last year for Schmidt Peterson Motorsport - in their time together at Sauber, and also fared well against Andretti Autosport team leader Alexander Rossi in GP2, so Nasr has every reason to think that he too could make a successful transition to IndyCar, with the added benefit of circuit knowledge already established from his time in IMSA that Rossi and Ericsson didn't have when they started.

"There are a lot of drivers that can be quick, but a driver that can give guidance to the team and know if they're going to the wrong or the right direction is what makes the difference, and that's what I focus on," he says.

"At the end of the day if a team is moving forward, that's what matters and I think I could showcase that pretty well at COTA and Sebring, working closely with the technical group on the tyres, how they warm up, how the car copes with the bumps, the kerbs and what it takes to get some more time out of the car."

That only makes the uncertainty over when he'll make his IndyCar debut that much more difficult to stomach, but Nasr is optimistic that his time will come.

"I don't know what will be the schedule and when and where we're going to go racing, so we have to be patient," he says.

"I do have the intention to be in IndyCar in the future and if that means this year doing more races I don't know, if that's next year I don't know" Felipe Nasr

"I was sad for not having the opportunity at St Pete - I was pretty confident heading there and I feel like we had a great package. Max [Chilton, Carlin team-mate] as well when he drove the car at Sebring was happy with the handling, so everybody was optimistic for that first round, but I understand that safety and health comes as a priority right now. I totally agree on the decision.

"I'm very grateful to Trevor Carlin giving me the opportunity, and I hope we can keep the good faith and that first race will happen some time when the world gets into a more neutral situation.

"For now all I have talked with Trevor was to do that first round at St Pete and I don't know where that's going to lead afterwards, but I do have the intention to be in IndyCar in the future and if that means this year doing more races I don't know, if that's next year I don't know.

"But just having that opportunity to test the car and to prove that I could be up there, I think made a lot of people aware of what I'm capable of bringing."

We'll have to wait a little longer to find out exactly what he's capable of doing in an IndyCar when the heat is on, but the latest ex-F1 driver to pursue the American Dream in open-wheel racing could be well worth waiting for.