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Tag: Jehan Daruvala
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Drugovich takes maiden F2 pole; Jehan Daruvala P7
Silverstone, 31 July 2020: Rookie Felipe Drugovich’s incredible start to life in Formula 2 continued in Silverstone as he took his, and MP Motorsport’s, first-ever pole position in the Championship here on Friday. In the four rounds of the season so far, the Brazilian has transformed himself from an unlikely underdog to a championship contender and beat out home hero Callum Ilott for first by 0.139s.
Indian racer Jehan Daruvala took P7 for the Feature race which will be YouTubed live on Formula 1 channel at 8.30 pm IST. “
“P7, the first half of qualifier was really good but in the second half, I had traffic on the warm laps and couldn’t really get the tires in the window for my push laps. Anyways, positive qualifying and looking forward to the race tomorrow,” said the Mumbai-born 21-year old tagging his sponsors @Winway and @pap_sc and his team @CarlinRacing on Twitter.
Despite Britain enjoying its hottest day of the year to date, clouds had begun to form over Silverstone in the late afternoon and teams were warned of the possibility of rain ahead of Qualifying. This prompted the entire grid to head straight onto the track, desperate to get a strong lap time on the board, just in case.
Jehan Daruvala during the qualifying session on Friday. @DaruvalaJehan twitter Louis Delétraz led the pack but it was Yuki Tsunoda at the top of the timesheets in the early stages, as the Carlin racer set the benchmark at 1m 40s. Jack Aitken has struggled so far in 2020 but was desperate to find form for his home event and found enough pace to go four hundredths faster than Tsunoda to take P1.
His time at the top didn’t last long though, as Carlin returned to provisional pole. But this time, it was Tsunoda’s teammate, Jehan Daruvala, who went fastest.
Drugovich has made a habit of punching above his weight this season, and the Brazilian stunned the grid with a near perfect tour of Silverstone for provisional pole. The MP Motorsport racer caught the eye with a personal best first sector, but it was in the middle of the track where he truly came alive, going 0.5s faster than anyone else.
Ilott looked to react, but couldn’t match Drugovich for pace and missed out on first by 0.1s and settled for second. Mick Schumacher had been left frustrated earlier in the session when a fast lap was spoiled by the Trident of Roy Nissany, who appeared to get in the PREMA driver’s way, and left the German down in the midfield. He suffered no such issue in the second half of the session, setting three green sectors to take third in the dying minutes.
Having used up their tyres, and with the track cooling down, no one could improve at the chequered flag, which meant a maiden pole position for Drugovich, ahead of Ilott and Schumacher.
Christian Lundgaard was good enough for fourth, ahead of Nikita Mazepin, who continued Hitech Grand Prix’s improved form of late. Aitken was sixth, ahead of Daruvala, Guanyu Zhou, Tsunoda and Delétraz. Drugovich will be in search of his second victory of the season in tomorrow’s Feature Race at 3.45 pm (local time).
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Jehan Daruvala finishes P6 for maiden points; Shwartzman takes 2nd win
Budapest, 18 July 2020: Ace Indian racing driver Jehan Daruvala put in a stunning performance and aided with a superb strategy by Carlin team, the Red Bull Junior finished a noteworthy P6 after starting from P15 in the FIA Formula 2 Feature race being held along the F1 Hungarian GP here on Saturday. The Mumbai-born rookie will start P3 for the Sprint Race on Sunday which Indians can watch on Youtube Formula 1 channel at 2.40 pm.
“Had some fun out there today with lots of overtaking. After issues (with clutch) at the start, I dropped to the end of the grid and from last have managed to finish 6th. I will start P3 tomorrow which is a good position to get a good result in the Sprint race,” tweeted Jehan Daruvala, tagging his supporters #RedBullJuniorTeam, PAP, Winway and his team #CarlinRacing. His racing guru, Rayomand Banajee responded, “What a race! Lots of impressive moves out there. Good luck for tomorrow.”
The race was won by Robert Shwartzman, who earlier won Feature Race in Round 1 too. He took the second win in sensational circumstances, at the Hungaroring today. Starting from 11th, the PREMA racer crossed the line with an unassailable lead of 15s over Nikita Mazepin in second.
This was thanks, in part, to the decision to place him on the Prime/Option strategy, which handed him fresh soft tyres at the end of the race, when the majority of the field were running on heavily degraded mediums.
Mazepin was another to enjoy the same luxury and took his first podium in F2. The Hitech racer begun the afternoon way back in 16th, but he made light work of charging through the pack in the closing laps, once he switched to the soft tyres.
Shwartzman’s teammate Mick Schumacher had initially looked set for his first Feature Race win, but he was lucky to cling on to third at the end of the race. The German was the final driver to change from softs to mediums and managed his tyres as best he could to hang on at the end.
Shwartzman celebrates after winning the Feature Race. An F2 Image Polesitter Callum Ilott wasn’t as lucky. The UNI-Virtuosi racer made his change early on, and by the end of the race, had nothing left to give, finishing eighth.
AS IT HAPPENED
There were several strong starts when the lights went out. Ilott was one of those, getting away cleanly from first. Behind him, Dan Ticktum darted into second, while Schumacher surged down the middle for third.
Shwartzman’s getaway was the most eye-catching. The Russian was starting from 11th after a really tough Qualifying session, but he fired up to sixth by the end of the second corner.
Guanyu Zhou’s start was much more sluggish, and the UNI-Virtuosi racer was swallowed up by the field, falling from third to seventh, while Luca Ghiotto dropped from P2 to fifth, below Christian Lundgaard.
The safety car made its first appearance of the race early on as Roy Nissany locked up at Turn 1 and collided with his teammate. Marino Sato was forced to retire, and the marshals worked quickly to remove his machine and allow racing to resume.
Ghiotto attempted to claim fourth from Lundgaard and the duo battled all the way from Turn 1 to Turn 3, with the Hitech racer inching narrowly ahead. In his attempts to fight back, Lundgaard caught the rear wing of Ghiotto and suffered a puncture.
In his attempts to avoid Lundgaard, Marcus Armstrong clattered into Artem Markelov which ended the BWT HWA RACELAB driver’s race. This brought out another safety car.
At the re-start, Ticktum immediately dived into the pits to change from the soft tyres and onto the mediums, leaving Schumacher to race with Ilott for P1.
Ilott pitted himself for a change a lap later, whilst Schumacher was attempting to run longer on the soft Pirellis. When the German did eventually pit, he returned ahead of the UNI-Virtuosi driver and led those who had already changed tyres.
Behind them, Ticktum was fast losing grip on his tyres, and dropped below Ghiotto, Zhou and Louis Delétraz.
The DAMS driver wasn’t the only one to struggle. The Feature Race was the first dry session of the weekend and the field were learning on the job, with the medium Pirellis. This boosted the chances of a race win for Shwartzman, who was on the alternative strategy, along with Mazepin, and Felipe Drugovich.
The Russian opted to pit with 10 laps to go and knew that a solid stop would return him in seventh, with a strong sniff of the podium. The pitstop was flawless, and the PREMA racer re-joined in fourth.
On cold tyres and maybe a bit too eager, Shwartzman locked up hard which allowed Ghiotto to pass him at the first corner. The PREMA ace quickly warmed up his tyres and got back in-front, and then fired ahead of Ilott. The remainder of the grid pitted for their change and this handed Shwartzman second, with only his teammate Schumacher to beat.
Also on the alternative strategy, Mazepin was on the charge as well. The Hitech racer had started the day in 16th, but returned from his pitstop in ninth and almost instantly dispatched of Jehan Daruvala and Ticktum for seventh in one cool move.
Mazepin slid into fifth with two further overtakes on the next lap, and as he did so, Shwartzman thundered into first and began to quickly pull away from Schumacher, whose tyres didn’t have anywhere near enough fight left in them to defend.
Only five laps remained but there was plenty more action to be played out. Mazepin continued his ascent and flung his Hitech around the side of Ilott, before diving ahead of Schumacher for second. By this point, Shwartzman had increased his lead to a jaw-dropping 15s.
Felipe Drugovich managed to make the fresher tyres work himself and clawed his way up to fifth, but didn’t have quite enough time for any further overtakes.
Shwartzman crossed the line with a 15.5s advantage over Mazepin, who had more than 7s on Schumacher in third. Ghiotto managed to retain fourth ahead of Drugovich, with Daruvala sealing sixth, ahead of Delétraz.
Polesitter Ilott plummeted down the order to eighth in the final few laps, with seriously degraded medium tyres. The Briton will start on reverse pole in the Sprint Race on Sunday. Ticktum and Zhou took the final points’ positions, having struggled with their rubber as well.
Shwartzman’s second victory increases his Championship lead to 22 points over Ilott. Lundgaard is third with 43, ahead of Ticktum and Armstrong. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA Racing lead with 102 points, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi on 79 and ART Grand Prix on 77. DAMS are fourth and MP Motorsport fifth.
KEY QUOTE – ROBERT SHWARTZMAN (PREMA RACING)
“The win was a little bit unexpected again. I started P11 with a completely different strategy, and to be honest, I was expecting to get some good points, but I did not expect to be first.
“My start was mega, one of the best starts I have done. The launch was good, and I think that I passed five cars in the first two corners, something like that. It was really impressive, and I was like ‘oh my god, I am in P6 now.’
“Everyone on the other strategy pitted and I stayed out on track. I was quite surprised because my front left started to degrade: I was losing a lot of time and I felt really slow. But in actual fact, I wasn’t that slow and my pace was more or less the same as them.
“I tried to stay out as long as possible and the guys gave me a mega pit stop. I went out and had a big lock up, which was a big mistake, because the tyres were really, really cold. After that, I had a lot of vibration, but the tyres were still a lot better than the guys in front of me.
“In the end, there was a good gap and we finished first, so a big thanks to the team, to SMP racing and the FDA.”
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Daruvala gets stuck in gravel trap, will start on P15 for Feature race
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.
Callum Ilot takes pole on Friday. An FIA F2 image 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.
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Shwartzman wins as Tsunoda takes P2; Daruvala P12
Spielberg, 11 July 2020: Ferrari junior Robert Shwartzman proved unstoppable on the wet in Spielberg, clawing his way from sixth on the grid to take his first-ever victory in FIA Formula 2.
The PREMA racer’s win denied fellow rookie, and Red Bull Academy driver, Yuki Tsunoda a first win of his own in F2. The polesitter led for the majority of the race, but an issue with team radio saw him pit too late and drop down to fifth. Meanwhile, Indian racer Jehan Daruvala lost a chance to finish P8 and a pole on the reverse grid for the Sprint race on Sunday. “Only my self to blame… Threw away points and reverse grid pole for tomorrow. I am really angry with myself, but now I can’t change it. So will keep my head up and try to fight back tomorrow,” said Daruvala.
Despite a late charge on the fresher tyres, he wasn’t able to recover first and instead had to settle for second, and a maiden podium.
Guanyu Zhou led the race when Tsunoda pitted late on, but had the opposite issue to the Carlin racer, having changed his tyres too early. Zhou’s rubber wasn’t strong enough to hold off Shwartzman and he ended up in third ahead Mick Schumacher, who had done brilliantly to rise from ninth after a tough Qualifying session.
Marcus Armstrong was another to perform brilliantly around the Red Bull Ring after a tough day on Friday. The ART Grand Prix driver qualified 12th and managed to climb to seventh, just behind his teammate Christian Lundgaard, and Callum Ilott.
AS IT HAPPENED
Wet weather put the Feature Race into doubt as rain poured down onto the Red Bull Ring. The initial formation laps tested the conditions before race control deemed it unsafe and ordered them back into the pits. This delayed the start by over an hour as they waited for the conditions to ease.
Race Director Silvia Bellot deemed it dry enough for a safety car start shortly after 18:30 local time, and the grid headed out onto the track. The rain eased somewhat, and the safety car returned to the pits after four laps, at which point racing finally got underway. Tsunoda was put under instant pressure from Zhou, but managed to hold the position around the first turn.
The only change to the order on the opening lap saw Jack Aitken edge ahead of Luca Ghiotto for fourth. Tsunoda was attempting to build a gap between himself and Zhou, but despite the drying conditions, was struggling to find the grip, with the Lauda section remaining particularly wet.
Lundgaard was revelling in the rain, finding excellent traction to push ahead of Shwarztman, and then fire past Ghiotto and into fifth. Aitken looked to be within his reach, but a slight wobble gave the Campos driver space to breathe.
Having been passed by Lundgaard, Ghiotto was then under threat from Shwartzman as well, who was remaining patient in his attempts to overtake. He eyed up several moves on the Italian but opted against the risk until lap 15, when he finally lunged ahead at Turn 6. The PREMA racer made the move just in time to follow Lundgaard ahead of Aitken for fourth and fifth.
Zhou and Ilott were amongst the first of the front runners to box on laps 22 and 23, with many of the field looking to stay out longer. The pair returned in sixth and seventh, believing that they could fire through the field and build a gap at the front, when the remainder changed their rubber.
The majority chose to change their boots a few laps later and Carlin told their race leader to follow suit, but Tsunoda remained out, seemingly ignoring team orders. When the same thing happened on the following lap, the team quickly realised that there was a fault with the team radio and dashed to the pitwall, to give him the instructions in person.
This put the Red Bull junior’s race win in doubt. He had lost chunks of time to Zhou and Ilott and returned back in fifth. The select few drivers who had opted to remain out pitted and handed Zhou the lead.
The Chinese driver and his teammate Ilott were under pressure from Shwartzman who had the fresher rubber. The Russian proved too strong and both were passed within the space of a lap.
Returning in fifth with just five laps to go, the win looked to have been lost for Tsunoda, but the Carlin racer was hounding down those ahead of him in a desperate attempt to claw back P1. First, he dispatched of Ilott, and then he eased ahead of Zhou. Shwarztman was 3s ahead of him, and time was swiftly running out, but this wouldn’t stop Tsunoda from trying.
It wasn’t the only late dash going on either. The second PREMA of Schumacher was also on fresher tyres and sprinted into third, with a tidy move on Ilott, before locking in on Zhou.
Back out at the front, Tsunoda managed to get within a second of P1 on the final lap, but he couldn’t quite get within range to make a lunge on Shwarztman, allowing the Russian driver to run over the line for his first win.
Zhou completed the podium behind them in third, just about staving off the threat of Schumacher. Ilott took fifth and Lundgaard sixth, ahead of his teammate Armstrong. Dan Ticktum finished eighth, with Aitken in ninth and Sean Gelael tenth.
Shwartzman’s win hands him first in the Drivers’ Championship, with 48 points, ahead of Ilott on 37. Lundgaard moves up to third on 26, ahead of Armstrong, Tsunoda and Ticktum, who are all on 24. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA lead with 62 points, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi on 56 and ART Grand Prix on 50. MP Motorsport are fourth, followed by DAMS.
KEY QUOTE – ROBERT SHWARTZMAN (PREMA RACING)
“I am super happy to finish first, and I couldn’t have expected that result from the start. The beginning was really tough, and I had some issues with the car after the restart.
“There was a lot of rain coming down on the visor and I couldn’t see much, but slowly the rain started to go away and I started to pick up the pace and get ahead of a few cars. From P4, we done a really great strategy, so a massive thanks to the team, who were really quick on the pit
“We exited behind Zhou and he was really fast, but he started to lose grip and we had an interesting fight. I got passed him and took the provisional leading position, but my engineer told me that Yuki was really quick, so I couldn’t rest or relax.
“I saw him coming and the last give laps were really intense, because I started to lose the rear grip. Thankfully, Yuki was struggling a bit by then too, which saved me.
“I am really happy and really thankful to everyone who was watching and all of my fans. Also, to my team, SMP Racing and the FDA, but the biggest thanks goes to my dad, who was watching me from up there, so I hope that he is happy.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Ticktum will be eying his first F2 win from reverse grid pole in the Sprint Race tomorrow at 11.10am (local time) that is 2.40pm IST.
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Jehan Daruvala finishes P12 in debut F2 race; Illot wins
Spielberg (Austria), 4 July 2020: Indian ace Jehan Daruvala of Carlin Racing team had a bad day as he suffered a spin early in the race and despite some fighting-laps had finished out of points at P12 in his first F2 race on Saturday. Callum Illot of UNI-Virtuosi Racing won the first F2 race.
However, the Mumbai-born 21-year old Red Bull Junior driver is keeping a positive approach and looking forward to making amends in the Sprint Race on Sunday. Jehan’s teammate and the other Red Bull Junior driver Yuki Tsunoda too finished outside points. The Carlin team had a bad outing as they also messed up Tsunodo’s pit stop. “P12 today… A real shame as we had good speed but got spun-around at T3 on the first lap. Anyway, tomorrow is a new day and we will try to fight back as much as possible. I am going into the Sprint with a positive mind,” said Jehan Daruvala after the race.
The F2 races are being held along with the Formula 1 races and the grid has eight rookie drivers. The Sprint Race on Sunday will begin at 2.40 pm IST and Drugovich will start on the reverse grid pole.
Jehan Daruvala of India finishes P12 in his F2 debut race but looks forward for a good outing in the Sprint on Sunday. A Carlin team photo Callum Ilott steered clear of trouble to seal his maiden FIA Formula 2 win in a dramatic first race of the season. The UNI-Virtuosi racer was joined in the top three by fellow Ferrari juniors Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwarztman, with the duo taking podiums in their F2 debuts.
Ilott spent the majority of the race in a dogfight with teammate Guanyu Zhou and fellow Ferrari Academy member Mick Schumacher, but saw the duo plummet to the back of the grid late on. Both would finish out of the points as Zhou suffered from mechanical issues, before Schumacher
made a mistake and went wide. Their problems handed Armstrong – who had started in 13th – a shot at the podium on his first F2 start and the ART Grand Prix racer duly delivered. Behind him, Shwartzman was handed third and despite his best efforts, couldn’t get past his former F3 teammate.
Christian Lundgaard also impressed on his first start for ART, with the rookie taking fourth ahead of Dan Ticktum. Behind them, Giuliano Alesi enjoyed a sublime race in the BWT HWA RACELAB machine, rising from 18th to sixth. Fellow rookie Felipe Drugovich, who had begun on the front row, dropped back to eighth but will start the Sprint Race on reverse grid pole as a result.Callum Illot after winning the first F2 race of the season. A Formula Motorsport photo An all Ferrari driver (FDA) podium
The FDA made its mark on the first FIA Formula 2 race of the year. Drivers from the Scuderia Ferrari young driver programme monopolised the podium with Callum Ilott taking his first win in the category. Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman finished on the podium at their very first attempt, driving for ART Grand Prix and Prema respectively. Ilott, driving for UNI Virtuosi Racing built his win in the opening moments, with an almost perfect start that took him into the lead from third on the grid. The 21-year-old Brit had a long scrap with his Chinese team-mate Guan Yu Zhou, before pitting for Hard tyres on lap 18. Seven laps later Callum was back in the lead and then managed a Safety Car period to perfection to finish the 40 lap race eight seconds ahead of Marcus Armstrong.
A delighted Callum. “It’s my first race with UNI Virtuosi Racing and to win first time out with a new team is always special,” he said. “In some moments I pushed hard and it was fantastic to immediately find the right rhythm with the car and at that point I knew I could have a good race. During the lockdown I tried to keep in shape, because last year I realised how important that is in a series as competitive as Formula 2 and I’m very happy to have started my season in the best possible way. There’s a long way to go, but for now, I’m going to enjoy this great day.”
Great rookies! Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman were second and third respectively past the chequered flag, split by just four tenths of a second. The 19-year-old New Zealander started from 13th and, with his ART team engineers, decided to go for an early pit stop, being the first to change tyres and once back on track, he pushed a lot on the hard tyres making the most of a free track ahead of him. Once the pit stops were over, Marcus was up to third, behind Ilott and Mick Schumacher and when the German made a mistake he came up behind Ilott. In the final laps, the Armstrong-Shwartzman train caught everyone’s attention, but their duel was fair with no risks taken by the FDA rookies.
The right strategy. “I’m pleased and surprised,” commented Marcus. “Because after qualifying hadn’t gone to plan I didn’t think I’d finish my first Formula 2 race on the podium. We went for a different strategy, because of course no one knows much about the 18 inch tyres yet and in the end it worked out very well. In the final laps I suffered a bit because the tyres were now on the limit, but the Safety Car meant I could let them cool down a bit and that was a lucky break.”
Off on the right foot. Shwartzman, the reigning FIA F3 champion, also ended his first F2 race on the podium. “A great result, as I was up with the leaders right from the start and it wasn’t a bad feeling,” commented Prema’s Russian driver. “The team did a good job at the pit stop, but when I was back on track, I had to get the tyres up to temperature and I didn’t want to take any risks with Marcus right at the end. But it’s my first race in the category, so not bad to start with a third place. It’s going to be a tough season so it was good to get off on the right foot.”
Unlucky Mick. Mick Schumacher was out of luck today, after a technical problem had slowed him down during free practice before he qualified fifth. In the race the 21-year-old German had a strong pace and was fighting for the win up until nine laps from the flag when he went off track, dropping from second to 11th place.
A great comeback for Giuliano. Giuliano Alesi had to fight all race long, after a brake balance problem in qualifying meant the Frenchman started from 18th on the grid. Giuliano went for a different strategy to the rest of the field, starting on the hards before switching to the softs for the final third of the race. It paid off, as Alesi was able to fight his way up to sixth thanks to a great pace in the final part of the race. It means he will start the 24 lap Race 2 from third on the grid. -
Zhou takes F2 pole; Jehan to start P6
Spielberg (Austria), 3 July 2020: Uni Virtuosi Racing’s Guanyu Zhou, the Renault Junior, set the tone for the inaugural F2 race here, taking the pole position ahead of Felipe Drugovich of MP Motorsport but the Feature Race on Saturday will tell if the Chinese can translate his one-lap pace to race win.
The Indian ace, the 21-year old Jehan Daruvala, will start on P6 for the Feature race behind C Illot, C Lundgaard and Mich Schumacher who finished from P3 to P5, in that order. “P6 is a positive start to my first FIA F2 race and I am really looking forward to the feature race tomorrow because the pace for the front row is definitely there but I could not do the second run because of yellow and red flags,” said the Mumbai-born after the qualifier.
Zhou, the Renault junior is hoping to buck the trend become China’s first F1 driver. Having finished 2019 as F2’s leading rookie, but the season offers a new machine with wider tyres and is anybody’s guess.
The Mumbai-born Indian Jehan who started to fight with Zhou in the initial stages was in the top-3 till the end but finally had to settle for P6 clocking 1:15:028 as yellow flags prevented the last lap push.
Guanyu Zhou got his title challenge off to the perfect start in Spielberg, sealing his second pole position in FIA Formula 2 with a stunning Qualifying performance around the Red Bull Ring.
Zhou celebrates after taking F2 pole in Spielberg on Friday. An FIA F2 image Behind the Renault junior, there will be a surprise front-row start for rookie Felipe Drugovich, who has enjoyed a superb start to life with MP Motorsport, already qualifying higher in F2 than he did in Formula 3 last season. British outfit UNI-Virtuosi appear to be the team to beat in Austria, with Zhou’s teammate Callum Ilott completing the top three.
Free Practice pacesetter Yuki Tsunoda picked up from where he left off at the start of this afternoon’s session, setting the early pace around the Red Bull Ring. The Carlin driver’s position at the top was short-lived though, as he was soon pipped by his teammate, Jehan Daruvala, and Zhou.
Further back, Giuliano Alesi pushed the limits of the circuit too far and spun off the track, which forced him back to the pits and put his Qualifying session on hold, although he would later return. Zhou had no such issues, taking the time under 1m 15s to climb above Daruvala and into P1.
The field dived into the pits for fresh soft tyres, but their subsequent return to the track was only fleeting, as Marino Sato spun onto the gravel for the second time today and brought out a red flag.
Drugovich had shown potential in Free Practice with a P6 finish, but improved even more in Qualifying to squeeze in a fast lap just ahead of the red flag, which fired him to third.
Just five minutes remained when the lights went green and Christian Lundgaard saw a challenge on Zhou fall just short, with the ART man’s time only good enough for P2. Despite holding onto first, the Chinese racer raised his game, setting two purple sectors to improve his laptime and further cement P1.
Drugovich continued to surprise in the MP Motorsport machine and fired ahead of Lundgaard for second, followed closely by Zhou’s teammate Ilott, whose own tour of the Red Bull Ring took him third.
Jehan Daruvala on way to P6 on Friday. Photo Jehan Daruvala Time remained for one more lap, and each of Louis Deletraz, Jack Aitken and Tsunoda had all posted purple first sectors, only to be thwarted by a yellow flag when Nikita Mazepin spun out.
That left Zhou to ease his way back to the pits and claim the first pole of 2020 ahead of Drugovich and Ilott. Lundgaard and Mick Schumacher took fourth and fifth, ahead of Daruvala, Luca Ghiotto, Robert Shwartzman, Dan Ticktum and Delétraz.
Zhou will be looking for his maiden victory in F2 when the lights go out in the Feature Race tomorrow, at 4.45pm (local time).
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Jehan finishes 8th in Free Practice; teammate Tsunoda fastest
Spielberg, 3 July 2020: Indian Ace Jehan Daruvala finished eighth in the Free Practice as F2 began with along with F1 this afternoon. But it was his teammate, the other Red Bull junior, Yuki Tsunoda, impressed in his first-ever FIA Formula 2 session at the Red Bull Ring, finishing a surprise first ahead of more-experienced challengers in Free Practice.
The Carlin rookie climbed to P1 at the halfway mark and his time of 1:15.249 wouldn’t be bettered, with Hitech Grand Prix’s Luca Ghiotto in second and ART Grand Prix rookie Marcus Armstrong in third.
The cars fed out onto the track at the first opportunity, having endured seven months without a competitive session. A few minor damp patches remained from the early morning downpour, but the track had more than dried enough for the slicks.
Tsunoda’s teammate Jehan Daruvala set the day’s initial flying lap, but it was Mick Schumacher who posted the first fast time in the PREMA, lapping at 1:16.597. Daruvala then leapt back into first, before fellow rookie Felipe Drugovich took a turn at the top.
Renault juniors Christian Lundgaard and Guanyu Zhou began a battle for P1 and exchanged fastest times as they fired under 1m 16s. It was from here that Tsunoda took control. The Red Bull junior showed no rustiness to beat the Renault pairing, and top a front five made up of three rookies.
The session was brought to a brief halt as Marino Sato spun and brought out a red flag, but little would change when they got back underway. Tsunoda remained first, with Luca Ghiotto taking second, just 0.054s slower. Armstrong would seal third as Free Practice came to a close, followed by Zhou and Lundgaard. Drugovich, Robert Shwartzman, Daruvala, Sean Gelael and Louis Deletraz would complete the top ten.
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FIA F2 races to begin in July; Indian ace Jehan Daruvala, raring to go
Paris, 2 June 2020: Top Indian racer Jehan Daruvala, who was signed by Red Bull team in February for their Junior Programme is raring to go as the FIA F2 season begins in July with the first race to be held at Austria.
Following Formula 1’s announcement of their opening eight races of the revised 2020 calendar, FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 are pleased to confirm that their 2020 season will also start on July 03-05 at the Red Bull Ring and will continue alongside F1 in the succeeding seven rounds.
The Indian prodigy, billed as the next-best bet for an Indian in F1, saw Red Bull Racing Formula One Team sign him up which means, Jehan will race for Carlin team, alongside fellow Red Bull Junior Yuki Tsunoda, in his maiden F2 season.
The Red Bull Junior program has been instrumental in producing some of the world’s best F1 racers over the years including, four-time World F1 Champion – Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Alex Albon, and many others. The selection into the Red Bull program is a huge recognition for the young Indian who has consistently performed well at the top of every series he has participated in, culminating in a fantastic season last year where he finished 3rd in the FIA F3 championship. Importantly, in the last ten years, all Red Bull Racing F1 & AlphaTauri F1 (earlier Torro Rosso) racers have come from the Red Bull Junior Program.
Both the F2 and F3 championships were planned to start their 2020 campaign at Sakhir, Bahrain on 20-22 March, but was put on hold due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, F2 and F3 have monitored the situation alongside Formula 1 who has been working closely with promoters, authorities in Europe and the FIA to put in place a revised calendar that allows a return to racing in a safe way for the visited communities and the paddocks.
We currently expect the events will take place without fans, with the hope to have them included in future rounds later this year. The opening calendar will include holding two consecutive events at the same circuit one week apart (Spielberg and Silverstone) as well as a number of back to back events.
As stated by F1 in their announcement, the health and safety of all involved will continue to be priority number one. A robust and detailed plan with strict procedures put in place by Formula 1 and the FIA to ensure the events have the highest level of safety will also apply to the F2 and F3 community and paddock.
The rest of the 2020 F2 and F3 calendar will be revealed at a later date.
F2 and F3 CEO Bruno Michel: “First of all, I would like to thank Formula 1TM and the FIA for making this revised opening calendar possible in such difficult circumstances. I am very pleased to confirm that F2 and F3 will be able to race alongside F1 in the first eight events.
“It is unfortunate that currently we don’t expect fan attendance in these opening events, but we are however glad that we are able to bring them the entertainment of our racing in the safest way possible.
“We will also follow the very detailed safety plan put in place by Formula 1 and the FIA as our priority is to make sure no risks are taken.
“Our 2020 season will continue beyond Monza. We will announce the second part of our calendar as soon as possible.”
S.No. Revised* 2020 F2 & F3 Dates Venue 1 03-05 July Spielberg, Austria 2 10-12 July Spielberg, Austria 3 17-19 July Budapest, Hungary 4 31 July – 02 August Silverstone, Great Britain 5 07-09 August Silverstone, Great Britain 6 14-16 August Barcelona, Spain 7 28-30 August Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium 8 04-06 September Monza, Italy *FIA Approved Calendar
File photo: Jehan Daruvala with the trophy for third place in an F3 Race 1 in Sept. 2019. Photo by -
Jehan is 2nd runner up in FIA F3 Championship
Best season result by an Indian ever
Sochi, Russia : Indian racing sensation, Jehan Daruvala created history at the Russian Grand Prix weekend, by concluding the FIA F3 Championship in third. This is the best championship position ever, by an Indian in an official F1 feeder series.
It was heartbreak however for Jehan, in the last race of the season, when the Indian’s car was unable to start on the formation lap. Jehan who was due to start fourth on the grid, but instead had to start from the pitlane, after his car was pushed off the track.
Thereafter Jehan drove arguably, the best race of the season. He steadily worked his way up, overtaking a car a lap on an average. The highly competitive nature of the FIA F3 championship ensures that even racers at the back, are capable of posting quick laptimes. Yet, Jehan was able to consistently put in laptimes similar to the leaders while overtaking. Unfortunately he pushed too hard and went off track at one point, due to which he was penalised 5 seconds, inspite of giving back the position he gained.
Midway through the race, Jehan was 20th on track. The higher he climbed the tougher it was for the Indian to overtake. Once Jehan reached twelfth, his tyres were well past their best, due to his pushing right through the race. Jehan had to manage this additional situation and still overtook three cars in the last two laps to eventually finish ninth on track. Estonian racer – Juri Vips won the race, but Jehan was classified as fifteenth due to the 5 second penalty.
Unfortunately for Jehan, his Prema Racing teammate, Marcus Armstrong from New Zealand finished second. Additionally, he also had the fastest lap, which allowed him to leapfrog Jehan’s 13 point margin, to get ahead by a single point.
The Indian star has been consistently quick throughout the season in arguably the most competitive F1 feeder series. Jehan kicked off his season overcoming clutch issues in race 1 and winning race 2, at the Spanish Grand Prix weekend. The former second runner up in the World Karting Championship proved his speed once again by winning the first race of the 2nd round at the French Grand Prix weekend. He completed a hat-trick of podiums in the very next race.
Jehan eventually capped off the best season ever, by an Indian in an official F1 feeder series, with a total of 7 podiums in addition to two fastest laps and a pole position. Third place overall is a monumental achievement for an Indian. He has qualified in the top four in every round, except for Hungary where he was caught in traffic. The resulting non points scoring races in that round in addition to a DNF at the British Grand Prix weekend, proved to be very costly in terms of points to Jehan. Russian Robert Shwartzman was crowned the 2019 FIA F3 Champion.
“What happened at the start is heart breaking. But I had to focus on the race. I just put my head down and drove an aggressive race. Starting 29th and from the pit lane and finishing 9th on track was good fun. Prema has given me a fantastic car all year. Its just unfortunate that in the last few races I have had a bit of bad luck with DRS issues, a brake issue yesterday and the pit lane start today. These are things beyond anyone’s control. I am happy to have finished 3rd in the championship but disappointed at the same time with the technical issues I had in the last 2 weekends, but that is racing.” said a disappointed Jehan.
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Vips ends 2019 with lights-to-flag victory in Sochi
Estonian wins ahead of Armstrong, who claims P2 in the ChampionshipJuri Vips Sochi, 29 Sept 2019: Jüri Vips closed off the FIA Formula 3 season with his third victory of 2019, dominating Race 2 from start-to-finish, with an electric lights-to-flag performance. Drama played out behind him, as Marcus Armstrong ran rampant, rising from seventh to second to secure P2 in the Drivers’ standings. Champion Robert Shwartzman ended the campaign on the podium, with third place.
Temperatures had risen to 20 degrees as the session got underway, following a brief spell of rain in yesterday’s Race 1. Vips was clean off the line to hold on to first, fighting off an attack from Jake Hughes, which never looked like sticking. The Brit was then thrust into the path of Leonardo Pulcini, who began to harry the back of him. Meanwhile, Armstrong had started his chase from seventh, getting ahead of Niko Kari and latching on to the rear of Pedro Piquet.Having waited patiently, Pulcini made his move on Hughes and lunged down the left of him. As the Briton looked to react, he caught the rear tyre of the Hitech racer and sent him skidding into the gravel. Pulcini managed to get going again, but returned at the back of the field, while Hughes dropped to fourth. The stewards deemed it a racing incident, which needed no further action.This put Armstrong and Piquet into the battle for first, handing the Kiwi an opportunity to claim second in the Championship, having seen his teammate, Daruvala, stall on the formation lap. The Indian had been forced to start from the pitlane and was sat back in 22nd.Sensing his opportunity, he sliced his way past Pedro Piquet and fired off into the distance. P2 wouldn’t be enough though – the PREMA man needed first, or the fastest lap. With Vips nearly 4s ahead, he opted for the latter and roared around the Sochi Autodrom, Qualifying style, to snatch the extra points. By this point, Daruvala had risen as high as 16th, as he battled to save second in the standings.Vips continued to flex his muscles out in front, as Shwartzman seized fourth from Hughes to set his sights on ending 2019 with a podium place. He achieved this when Piquet was forced to retire from the race, pulling over onto the tarmac. Second would prove a place to far for the Russian though, as Armstrong and Vips amassed a near 10s lead ahead of him.The order remained unchanged as they crossed the line, with Vips comfortably claiming a third win of the campaign, ahead of Armstrong in second. Shwartzman completed the podium and was followed by Hughes, Kari and Ye Yifei, who scored his best finish of the year. Richard Verschoor and Liam Lawson completed the top eight.With the 2019 season concluded, Shwartzman wins the Championship with a total of 212 points, ahead of Armstrong on 158. Daruvala is third with 157, Vips fourth with 141 and Piquet fifth with 98. PREMA Racing end the season with 527 points, ahead of Hitech Grand Prix on 223, ART Grand Prix on 174, Trident on 134 and HWA RACELAB on 100.2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship Round 8 – Race 2 provisional classificationDRIVERTEAM1Juri VipsHitech Grand Prix2Marcus ArmstrongPREMA Racing3Robert ShwartzmanPREMA Racing4Jake HughesHWA RACELAB5Niko KariTrident6Ye YifeiHitech Grand Prix7Richard VerschoorMP Motorsport8Liam LawsonMP Motorsport9Christian LundgaardART Grand Prix10Logan SargeantCarlin Buzz Racing11Max FewtrellART Grand Prix12Devlin DeFrancescoTrident13Raoul HymanSauber Junior Team by Charouz14Jehan DaruvalaPREMA Racing15Felipe DrugovichCarlin Buzz Racing16Leonardo PulciniHitech Grand Prix17Bent ViscaalHWA RACELAB18Andreas EstnerJenzer Motorsport19Teppei NatoriCarlin Buzz Racing20David SchumacherCampos Racing21Leong Hon ChioJenzer Motorsport22Alessio DeleddaCampos Racing23Keyvan AndresHWA RACELAB24Sebastian FernandezCampos Racing25Yuki TsunodaJenzer MotorsportNOT CLASSIFIEDPedro PiquetTridentFabio SchererSauber Junior Team by CharouzSimo LaaksonenMP MotorsportLirim ZendeliSauber Junior Team by CharouzOVERALL FASTEST LAPMarcus Armstrong (PREMA Racing) – 1:55.860 on Lap 15FASTEST LAP ELIGIBLE FOR POINTSMarcus Armstrong (PREMA Racing)
