Tag: F2

Silverstone, 2 August 2020: Red Bull Racing Junior, Jehan Daruvala finished fourth here, in Silverstone in the Sprint race of the FIA Formula 2, part of the British Grand Prix weekend. The Indian racing sensation started in twelfth and worked his way up the field after a sensational last three laps.

Jehan in his first Formula 2 season, started twelfth for the Feature race and after a decent start remained in the same position for most of the race. The extremely competitive grid, meant Jehan although faster than some cars in front was unable to overtake due to their ability to also use DRS (Drag Reduction System).

Lap 16 saw the safety car being deployed to retrieve a car. Jehan and his team Carlin, took the gamble to pit for fresh medium compound tyres. Other drivers ahead and behind Jehan, also took the same gamble, and Jehan gained two places.

The moment the safety car pulled into the pits, it was a three lap dash to the finish. Last year’s FIA Formula 3 second runner up, immediately went on a phenomenal charge up the order. While attempting a move Jehan initially lost two positions to fall to twelfth, but a few corners later he made a brave move around the outside at Brooklands overtook four cars in one corner to move to eighth.

On the penultimate lap, Jehan overtook two more cars. He continued his charge, with a brilliant move on the last lap, to finish fourth. Local racer Dan Tictum won the race ahead of Christian Lundgaard of Denmark.

“The last two laps were super exciting. The team did a great job with the tyre strategy. Moving from P12 to P4 in the last few laps and hanging around the outside at Brooklands to pass four cars was good fun. Looking forward to being back here next week.” said Jehan.

Jehan returns to Silverstone again next weekend for the fifth round of the FIA Formula 2 championship. Indian fans have been able to catch the live action as the Formula 1 YouTube channel is broadcasting the F2 races live in India for the first time.

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Silverstone, 2 August 2020: Indian racer Jehan Daruvala, a Red Bull Junior in F2, recovered from the setbacks in the first part of the Sprint race and helped by circumstances, managed to push through and finished a brilliant P4, just outside the podium after starting from P12 here on Sunday.

It was Dan Ticktum, who won the race, stopping a marauding Lundgaard on fresh rubber and managed his hard tyres to perfection around Silverstone to survive a late charge from Christian Lundgaard, on faster medium Pirellis. The Briton brought home a historic first victory in FIA Formula 2 at his home circuit.

After his tyres gave up, Daruvala lost a couple of places and ended up P12 in qualifying, but the luck which deserted him all these days, seemed to have spared him today, as the car worked perfectly at the stat and he managed to leave the starting blues behind him. With Illot forced to retire midway and Zhou spinning towards the end, Daruvala, raced the last three laps, to maximise his results and put the Carlin in P4.

“P4 from P12 on the grid… The race came alive after the safety car at the end… And I really enjoyed myself and had a lot of fun overtaking,” said a jubilant Jehan Daruvala after the race and thanked his team, “Thanks to the team for the call on the tyres.”

Starting from pole, the DAMS driver led for the entire race, but came under threat in the final lap after ART Grand Prix had made the brave decision to pit Lundgaard during a safety car period and change his heavily degraded hard compounds to mediums.

UNI-Virtuosi suffered a race to forget, with both of their drivers finishing outside of the points from strong positions. Ilott spun from second and was forced to retire midway through the race, before Zhou suffered a similar fate, spinning from fourth on the final lap. The Chinese driver was able to get going again, but he’d dropped to ninth.

A slow pitstop during the safety car period crushed any hope of a top eight finish for Championship leader Robert Shwartzman, who departs Round 4 without scoring a single point.

AS IT HAPPENED

It wasn’t the first time that Ticktum had started on reverse grid pole this season, but unlike in Spielberg Round 2, he held onto the lead in the first lap. The DAMS driver got away speedily when the lights went out and dashed into the distance, ahead of Felipe Drugovich who was swallowed up by the pack. Lundgaard flung his ART Grand Prix machine off the line to fire into second at Turn 2, as Delétraz darted from fifth to third, dropping Drugovich to fourth. Ilott endured a tough start, with heavy wheelspin plunging him from third to sixth.

The UNI-Virtuosi racer was then at fault in a coming together with Yuki Tsunoda. Ilott touched the Carlin racer at the exit of Turn 3 and sent him into a spin. Ilott kept it together, but was served a 5s time penalty.

Guanyu Zhou had put in a sublime drive in the Feature Race on Saturday, with a late charge from eighth to second, and was on the metal again on Sunday. The UNI-Virtuosi racer picked up a double tow and DRS to thunder ahead of both Drugovich and Nikita Mazepin in one fell swoop for fifth.

Ilott knew the importance of the Sprint Race in his fight for the Championship and was giving it everything he had, well aware that his main title rival, Shwartzman, was out of the points in 11th but on the charge, having started from P14. He managed to build a 5s gap between himself and P6, before dashing ahead of Drugovich for P4. He eyed up Delétraz next and smoothly dispatched of the Charouz driver a few laps later. By Lap 14, he was in second, having gone around the outside of Lundgaard at Stowe. He knew he needed more though, as his 5s penalty would still drop him back down to P5.

Ticktum had a decision to make: use up his tyres in an attempt to keep Ilott behind, or let him pass to use DRS and attempt to keep the gap below that magic 5s mark.

n the end, he wouldn’t have to make the choice. Ilott lost the rear at the exit of Club and spun 180 degrees. He couldn’t get his Virtuosi going again and his race would end in retirement with the safety car brought out.

ART were amongst a number of teams to roll the dice and make the bold call to pit their driver’s during the SC period, changing heavily degraded hard compounds to the faster mediums.

This move dropped the Dane down to fifth behind Mazepin, with the front four opting against switching, Although Zhou radioed to tell his team they’d made the wrong decision.

Both PREMA’s pitted, but Shwartzman’s stop was uncharacteristically slow, and all of his early progress was undone, as he returned in 17th.

The Safety Car returned with two laps to go and Ticktum retained the lead at the restart, but Lundgaard instantly fired ahead of Mazepin for fourth. Zhou’s prediction that his team had made the wrong call was borne out, as his Renault Academy teammate eased ahead of him for the final podium spot on the fresher tyres.

Delétraz proved to be sterner competition, but he too was left ruing his team’s decision not to change rubber, as he lost grip and wobbled, which handed Lundgaard third. The delay in getting past the Charouz proved pivotal, as Lundgaard ran out of laps to get past Ticktum. The DAMS driver brought home a historic home victory ahead of the Dane with Delétraz third.

Zhou’s race ended in disaster as the UNI-Virtuosi driver spun on the last lap to hand Jehan Daruvala a career-high finish of fourth. The Carlin driver was followed by Mazepin, Drugovich, Nobuharu Matsushita and Jack Aitken.

Shwartzman retains the Championship lead with 81 points, eight ahead of Ilott. Lundgaard’s tally is up to 69 in third, 11 ahead of fourth place Mazepin, while Ticktum is two points behind in fifth. In the Teams’ Championship, UNI-Virtuosi are first on 124 points, two ahead of PREMA on 122, with ART third, Hitech Grand Prix fourth and DAMS fifth.

KEY QUOTE – DAN TICKTUM (DAMS)

“It feels just as good – even without the fans – and I am over the moon to be honest. I haven’t crossed the line first in a while, so it feels good and it is a nice confidence boost. I don’t know what to say really, it was a very tough race all the way through.

“The first five laps in particular were pretty close, but then in the middle of the race I controlled it pretty well to be honest. The management of the tyres and the setup, with what we did with the aero balance was very good. At the end, if we had one less Safety Car lap, he (Christian Lundgaard) would have passed me. The last three laps were absolutely flat out, and I’m sure the blood pressure was pretty high.

“I am really happy, so a big thank you to the team, because it hasn’t been the easiest of starts, but we seem to have always made the best of not-so-ideal qualifying sessions, so to come away from this weekend with 20 odd points, or something like that, I am happy.

“This is the best track in the world, so I am happy that we’ll back next weekend.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

The F2 grid will remain in Great Britain with Round 5 taking place at Silverstone again in less than a week’s time. The Championship battle has been blown wide open with Ilott and Shwartzman’s inability to score in the Sprint Race, as Lundgaard, Ticktum, and Mazepin’s title bids all gained traction.SHARE

Budapest, 17 July 2020: With 4 minutes and 6 seconds left in the qualifying session, Indian racer Jehan Daruvala, after 10 laps, was set out for a final lap time, but was off the road and got stuck in the gravel trap, calling for the red flag that put a stop to the session. And the session was not re-started and Callum Illot of UNI Virtuosi Racing took the pole position for the Feature Race to be held on Saturday. He was followed by L Ghiotto in P2 and G Zhou in P3. Daruvala will start on P15 tomorrow.

Qualifying session

Callum Ilott was sensational in wet conditions around the Hungaroring, taking his second pole position in Formula 2. The Briton finished 0.3s ahead of Hitech Grand Prix’s Luca Ghiotto, and his UNI-Virtuosi teammate, Guanyu Zhou.

UNI-Virtuosi saw an alternative qualifying strategy pay dividends, as the team opted to keep their pairing out on track when the rest of the field pitted for fresh rubber. A late red flag – brought out after Jehan Daruvala spun into the gravel – ruined a number of push laps and meant that the session ended prematurely, confirming the pole for Ilott, and third for Zhou.

A rain hampered Free Practice had seen more than half of the grid decide not to run push laps, meaning that for many this was their first experience of the 18-inch Pirelli’s around the Hungaroring.

Round 2 polesitter Yuki Tsunoda was the first man out on track and alongside his teammate, Daruvala, put in the first flying laps.

There was an early red flag as Guilherme Samaia went off track and into the gravel before he could set a time. Carlin were once again quickest out of the traps when things resumed and Daruvala set the first fast time of the day.

The laps poured in from here, as the drivers scrambled to get times on the board should the ever-present threat of heavy rain bring the session to an early end.

Experience was proving key in the opening stages, with Louis Delétraz taking first with a time of 1m 55s, ahead of Marino Sato, Ghiotto and Sean Gelael.

Ghiotto quickly got to grips with the difficult conditions and twice beat his own laptime for provisional pole, breaking the 1m 53s barrier for the first time. His teammate Nikita Mazepin briefly dived beneath him, before Christian Lundgaard throttled around with a stunning lap of his own, going just 0.005s slower than Ghiotto.

Mick Schumacher and Ghiotto both took turns in first as the field continued to grow more and more comfortable with the limits.

It was at this point that UNI-Virtuosi turned the session on its head. Ilott and Zhou had struggled to trouble the top five in the first half of Qualifying, and the British team decided to run their driver pairing on the track by themselves when the rest of the field pitted for fresh tyres.

The duo responded imperiously to take first and third, with Ilott’s lap particularly impressive. The Briton thundered around aggressively to find every last drop of pace around the Hungaroring and set a time of 1:50.767.

The field returned to the track to respond, but wouldn’t be given long to do so as a red flag was brought out with four minutes remaining after Daruvala spun off into the gravel.

Race Control decided to end the session there, confirming a second career pole for Ilott, ahead of Ghiotto and Zhou. Dan Ticktum took fourth, ahead of Schumacher and Lundgaard. Marcus Armstrong, Jack Aitken, Gelael and Giuliano Alesi took the final spots in the top ten.

Ilott will be eying up his second victory of the season in the Feature Race tomorrow, but will face stiff competition from the experienced Ghiotto, who is looking to kickstart his season after a difficult first two rounds. Action gets underway at 4.45pm local time.

Practice Session

Earlier in Free Practice, Giuliano Alesi was the fastest of just nine drivers to set a laptime around the Hungaroring. The BWT HWA RACELAB driver led Jack Aitken and Marino Sato in the order, with over half of the grid opting not to hit the track for a flying lap in wet conditions.

Light rain began to hit the track as the teams started their preparations in the pitlane and the majority of the grid opted to wait and see whether the weather would settle.

Luca Ghiotto and the Dan Ticktum were amongst those to test the conditions on the dry tyres with installation laps. The DAMS driver spun on the penultimate corner, and with this, Race Control chose to declare the session wet.

Both headed back into the pits as the grid changed to wet tyres. With one eye on Qualifying later this afternoon the teams opted against hitting the track, not wanting to use up a set of wets, or risk any potential damage to the cars.

With just over 15 minutes to go, Artem Markelov was the first driver to set an official laptime, airing on the side of caution and touring at 1:48.407. He was followed by teammate Alesi, who went beneath 1m 46s.

Trident’s pairing also chose to get some laps under their belts and joined the HWA duo out on the circuit. Campos were next and Jack Aitken was instantly able to set the second fastest time, but he was just over a second slower than Alesi.

Louis Delétraz was the sole Charouz Racing System representative out on track, while MP Motorsport decided to send both of their men out in the final 10 minutes.

Alesi would remain first by over a second, ahead of Aitken and Sato. Markelov held fourth, ahead of Delétraz, Guilherme Samaia, Roy Nissany, Felipe Drugovich and Nobuharu Matsushita.

With more than half of the grid choosing not to set a laptime in Free Practice, Qualifying could prove to be fascinating, when it takes place at 5pm local time.