Jamie: “I’m enjoying the whole experience”

I am really enjoying life in the US. It has been a bit of an adjustment, as it’s different to how I’ve been racing the last few years of my life, but I’m really enjoying it.

It feels like I’ve settled in well with the team, I’m enjoying the whole Indy NXT experience, and am now looking forward to the rest of the year.

In the States, I’m quite busy, which is nice as it keeps me occupied – and I think for me, it’s all such new experiences. I’m really enjoying just throwing myself into that, but I definitely miss the food!

I am getting more used to finding where the good places are, versus some of the spots that I went to when I initially went over there.

But the food in the UK has got to be, in my opinion, a lot better than in the States… sorry!

My first race was a mix of emotions. On one hand, I was a bit disappointed with the result, but on the other side, there are so many positives and learnings I can take away.

It was certainly a baptism of fire, but I think that’s a good thing in a way – to throw myself into something like that and take away so much new experience.

There were positives, and also things to work on for sure, but I really enjoyed the experience.

Indy NXT is definitely a massive physical challenge.

The races are a lot longer, which is something I am not used to, so getting through the first one was a big thing – making sure I can do all the laps and be comfortable.

It’s also a bigger, heavier car, compared to what I’ve been in over the last few years. So I’ve been training harder. But also, time in the car has been super beneficial to growing accustomed to it.

For my first Indy NXT race, I went in it without expectation – instead trying to focus on taking in everything as it came.

That way, I didn’t put too much pressure or expectation on myself.

I was a bit disappointed with the result, but there are so many things I can take away from the race, and I was just happy to get that first race distance under my belt.

The break has given me time to do a lot of training!

That first race showed me how physical this championship is going to be and I knew that from testing, so I’ve been putting in the really hard yards behind the scenes.

We’ve also been fortunate enough to have a little bit of testing, and after the first race, I now know a lot more about the key areas to work on.

So between the team and myself, it’s been really nice to focus on those areas, work on those in testing and now it’s a big push for the next race!

It has been great to be back at the factory and re-familiarise myself with the sim. It’s always a great experience to drive the sim, it has moved on a lot since I was last here, so getting up to speed with that has been important.

The main thing is just getting back up to speed and seeing where the team are at since I was last in, then chipping away on some development work over the two days.

I’m really looking forward to the upcoming Indy NXT race, it’s been a long break, so I’m just keen to get back to it now.

Especially off the back of the first race, it makes me that bit more hungry to get going for the next one and back into the rest of the season.

For the rest of the season, I am hoping to take as much learning as I can throughout the year.

I want to progress up the field as much as possible, I think. Realistically, we can get up into that top ten, and that's where I want to be.

I feel like I’ve got a team and car capable of doing that, so I have high aspirations, but I’m also trying to learn as much as possible.

I’m really looking forward to joining the team in Miami. I raced there last year, so it’ll be nice to just be with the team this year.

This time I’ll be on the ground a little bit more, to see the progress that they’ve made over the past year or so.

Plus, for me, it’s going to be in between races, so it’ll be nice to stay stateside and see some Formula 1 action in America!