Driven: How does it feel to have your second European title in two years and win both as a rookie?
Stanaway: It's awesome. I guess winning both as a rookie is all about getting used to the car really quickly and getting to know the circuits quickly ... Getting up to speed quickly is what it's all about. On a race weekend, you have to know what to do straight away to extract a good lap out of the car. Then you have to put a good race together and be consistent.
D: At Hamilton a couple of years ago you leapt into a Toyota Racing Series car for the first time and took the field apart. Getting to grips with a car quickly seems to be a forte of yours.
S: I think in every racing series I've driven in, or almost every one, I've won on my first race weekend, so it's quite a good trait to have. The first test we had in Formula Three at Assen [Holland] and in my first session in the car I broke the lap record.
D: Would it be fair to say you don't over-analyse what you're doing or what the car is doing? Is it more intuitive and on feel?
S: I think it's a combination of both. I think half of it is intuition and feeling and then there's the other half of analysing the details and the data. I'll admit that sometimes I do arrive at a new circuit without looking into the data too much and just trusting more on how I feel when I drive the car rather than just thinking numbers and lines in my head. I do, however, analyse things when it comes to the finer details, but in terms of getting up to speed straight away, I just use my intuition.
D: You've clinched the title with one round to go. Will you be doing the last round?
S: Yeah, for sure. I want to end the season on a winning note.
D: When Driven last spoke to you, you weren't sure what was going to happen next year. Has there been any progress?
S: There's been nothing agreed for sure. But I will be doing quite a bit of World Series [Formula Renault] testing at the end of the year. There hasn't been any talk yet about any GP3 testing and nor has anything been confirmed, but it looks like things are leaning towards World Series for next year. I don't know who I'll be testing with just yet and I'll find that out closer to the time.
D: Is there any chance Kiwi fans will see you back in New Zealand this summer during the European off-season?
S: Unfortunately not, because Gravity is not interested in me doing any racing in New Zealand or Australia over the break.
Even Volkswagen Motorsport director Kris Nissen reckons Stanaway's dominance this season is something special.
"With his dominating title win, he has shown that he ranks among the great talents in motorsport," he said.
At the start of the year, Stanaway was judged one of the 12 most promising young drivers in the world when he was named in the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy.
The other New Zealand driver in the Formula Three series, Tom Blomqvist, did not participate over the weekend to defend his third place.
He had a big off at the Lausitzring, which resulted in a fractured lower lumbar vertebra.
