INDIA in F1

Tag: Trident

  • Albon takes pole position in Barcelona; Arjun Maini to start P18

    Barcelona, 12 May 2018: Alexander Albon held on from a flurry of last-minute flying laps to secure pole position in the FIA Formula 2 Championship Qualifying session, his 1:28.142 good enough to withstand an onslaught from Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing’s Nyck de Vries and Campos Vexatec Racing’s Luca Ghiotto.
    Meanwhile, Indian racer Arjun Maini of Trident could only manage P18 in the qualifying session. Earlier, Maini got the session underway at the green flag under warm and breezy conditions, leading out Sean Gelael (Prema) and ART Grand Prix’s Jack Aitken, before Gelael snatched track position for the first push lap of the session. Aitken briefly went quickest, before de Vries and Maini found even more time before having to quickly concede control of the timesheets as the pace continued to drop.
    Nicholas Latifi of DAMS was first to beat the morning’s practice pace set by Albon, who then ended the first phase of hot laps on top after setting a pair of purple opening sectors. Running then hit a brief hiatus at the midpoint of the session after Trident’s Santino Ferrucci hit the wall at turn 11, bringing out a red flag.
    DAMS got the session back underway at the restart with both drivers, taking advantage of the empty track. Latifi got within a tenth of Albon’s best time, before the Thai driver beat his own personal best by 0.3s to go further clear at the top of the timings. The circuit then met a flurry of activity, with plenty of drivers threatening to go even quicker.
    Aitken split the DAMS pair, before George Russell took second from his teammate shortly after. De Vries then bumped the ART pair down to the second row, but was ultimately unsuccessful in his overtures for pole, allowing Albon hang on and secure consecutive pole positions in F2.
    Ghiotto grabbed third at the last moment and will start alongside Russell, as Aitken and Latifi will occupy the third row of the grid. Tadasuke Makino (Russian Time) took seventh ahead of Carlin’s Lando Norris, as MP locked out row five with Ralph Boschung and Roberto Merhi.
    With plenty of championship contenders all at the sharp end, tomorrow’s Feature Race should be hotly contested – with all having to blend strategy and speed to secure an all-important victory.
    2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship Round 1 Qualifying – Barcelona, Spain
    Driver
    Team
    Time
    Laps
    1
    Alexander Albon
    DAMS
    1:28.142
    11
    2
    Nyck De Vries
    PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
    1:28.369
    11
    3
    Luca Ghiotto
    Campos Vexatec Racing
    1:28.400
    11
    4
    George Russell
    ART Grand Prix
    1:28.524
    11
    5
    Jack Aitken
    ART Grand Prix
    1:28.579
    11
    6
    Nicholas Latifi
    DAMS
    1:28.605
    11
    7
    Tadasuke Makino
    RUSSIAN TIME
    1:28.620
    11
    8
    Lando Norris
    Carlin
    1:28.923
    10
    9
    Ralph Boschung
    MP Motorsport
    1:28.970
    11
    10
    Roberto Merhi
    MP Motorsport
    1:29.081
    11
    11
    Antonio Fuoco
    Charouz Racing System
    1:29.130
    12
    12
    Louis Delétraz
    Charouz Racing System
    1:29.136
    11
    13
    Maximilian Gunther
    BWT Arden
    1:29.143
    12
    14
    Sergio Sette Camara
    Carlin
    1:29.256
    5
    15
    Roy Nissany
    Campos Vexatec Racing
    1:29.284
    11
    16
    Sean Gelael
    PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
    1:29.307
    11
    17
    Nirei Fukuzumi
    BWT Arden
    1:29.376
    12
    18
    Arjun Maini
    Trident
    1:29.407
    11
    19
    Artem Markelov
    RUSSIAN TIME
    1:29.585
    11
    20
    Santino Ferrucci
    Trident
    1:30.440
    6

  • Alexander Albon quickest in Formula 2 free practice; Arjun Maini 16th

    Barcelona, 11 May 2018: DAMS’ Alexander Albon completed the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship Free Practice session at Barcelona, Spain as the fastest driver, setting a 1:29.327 to stand three tenths clear of second-placed Sergio Sette Camara (Carlin) as Luca Ghiotto of Campos Vexatec Racing ended the session in third.
    A breezy session began with the Trident duo of Santino Ferrucci and Arjun Maini leapfrogging their opponents to leave the pits first, followed out by ART’s Jack Aitken as they all sought to take full advantage of the session’s 45 minute runtime. The American racer put the opening time on the board, which was given short shrift by Louis Delétraz; the Charouz Racing System driver held the early pace before Ferrucci spun on his next lap at Turn 4 to bring out a red flag after just five minutes of running.
    Maini reopened the action when the track went green, which was immediately greeted by drivers trading best sector times as they looked to make up for the session’s suspension. The Indian driver briefly went top, before Carlin’s Lando Norris snatched the advantage. Despite setting the fastest opening sectors, a poor final portion of the lap stymied Albon’s efforts to overturn Norris’ control of the timing boards, allowing the Charouz pair of Delétraz and Antonio Fuoco to occupy second and third.
    A second red flag was then brought out for Boschung, who produced an almost carbon copy of Ferrucci’s early spin at Turn 4 to pause the running once more. Sette Camara got the ball rolling again and beat Norris’ time on his subsequent flying lap, before Ghiotto went quickest by just a tenth over the Brazilian’s best.
    Albon then found his way to the top, despite encountering heavy traffic in the final sector, before the Carlins reassumed the top placings. The Thai driver hit back, finding further gains in the opening two thirds of the lap to go three tenths ahead of Sette Camara. The final ten minutes were greeted with few improvements and, after a planned Virtual Safety Car in the last stages, Albon kept control of the timing boards.
    Ghiotto slotted into third behind Sette Camara, while Nyck de Vries of PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing headed Norris and Fuoco for fourth. Roberto Merhi (MP Motorsport) grabbed seventh in the final stages of the session, ahead of eighth-placed George Russell (ART) and Roy Nissany (Campos), as Aitken completed the top half of the field.
    Qualifying will take place this afternoon and, with four different winners on the grid after just two rounds, should be a very closely-contested affair.
    2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship Round 3 Free Practice – Barcelona, Spain
    Driver
    Team
    Time
    Laps
    1
    Alexander Albon
    DAMS
    1:29.327
    14
    2
    Sergio Sette Camara
    Carlin
    1:29.621
    15
    3
    Luca Ghiotto
    Campos Vexatec Racing
    1:29.764
    16
    4
    Nyck de Vries
    PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
    1:29.878
    14
    5
    Lando Norris
    Carlin
    1:29.991
    17
    6
    Antonio Fuoco
    Charouz Racing System
    1:30.161
    16
    7
    Roberto Merhi
    MP Motorsport
    1:30.182
    16
    8
    George Russell
    ART Grand Prix
    1:30.292
    17
    9
    Roy Nissany
    Campos Vexatec Racing
    1:30.337
    17
    10
    Jack Aitken
    ART Grand Prix
    1:30.387
    17
    11
    Louis Delétraz
    Charouz Racing System
    1:30.438
    18
    12
    Nicholas Latifi
    DAMS
    1:30.650
    16
    13
    Tadasuke Makino
    RUSSIAN TIME
    1:30.669
    12
    14
    Artem Markelov
    RUSSIAN TIME
    1:30.675
    16
    15
    Maximilian Günther
    BWT Arden
    1:30.826
    16
    16
    Arjun Maini
    Trident
    1:30.914
    18
    17
    Nirei Fukuzumi
    BWT Arden
    1:31.035
    16
    18
    Sean Gelael
    PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
    1:31.179
    14
    19
    Santino Ferrucci
    Trident
    1:50.513
    2
    20
    Ralph Boschung
    MP Motorsport
    1:53.538
    4
  • Albon grabs first F2 pole in Baku qualifying; Arjun Maini on P8

    Albon grabs first F2 pole in Baku qualifying; Arjun Maini on P8

    Baku, 27 April 2018: Alexander Albon of DAMS took his maiden FIA Formula 2 Championship pole position at Baku, Azerbaijan, snatching the quickest lap on his final run of a 1:54.480 just before the session ended on a red flag to go ahead of Carlin’s Lando Norris and George Russell of ART Grand Prix.
    Alexandar Albon takes F2 pole at Baku on Friday. An FIA image

    Reprising their roles from the earlier free practice session, Trident duo Santino Ferrucci and Arjun Maini scampered out of the pitlane first at the beginning of the session, quickly followed by Norris, Jack Aitken and Sergio Sette Camara, the latter of whom set the fastest time in the morning’s practice. Indian racer Maini qualified in P8.  As soon as the field got started on their first flying laps, Maximilian Günther crawled to a halt after the first corner to bring out a first red flag, pausing the session after the opening five minutes of running. The Trident drivers got the ball rolling once more at the restart, with Artem Markelov rushing to the front of the pack to make up for a lack of running in the morning practice session.

    Norris set the early pace, a benchmark within the 1m55s, which was beaten shortly after by Albon who collected a tow from the British driver on the next cycle around the track. Luca Ghiotto then grabbed top spot by a tenth, before his Campos Vexatec Racing teammate Roy Nissany brought the first phase of flying laps to an end after going off-road, bringing out a yellow flag.
    With the field retreating to the pits for fresh supersoft tyres, Norris and Russell battled to wrest pole from Ghiotto, setting the same first sectors as each other before Albon put the pair in the shade with a session-best opening split. Norris grabbed provisional pole, but the Thai driver snatched top spot by two tenths to go quickest overall.
    As the front-runners plotted their next runs, Nicholas Latifi spun at Turn 7 and came to a stop, creating a brief traffic jam with Antonio Fuoco before a red flag was waved with less than a minute of the session left to run. With no time for the drivers to start new laps, the session was declared over to cement Albon’s first F2 pole ahead of Norris and Russell.
    Ghiotto beat Ferrucci to fourth place, as Sette Camara and Aitken were sixth and seventh. Maini was eighth quickest, completing the top half of the field with Nyck de Vries and Ralph Boschung respectively.
    Tomorrow’s Feature Race will start at 12pm tomorrow and, with a history of hosting fascinating races, the Baku City Circuit should throw up quite a spectacle.
    2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship Round 2 Qualifying: Baku, Azerbaijan
    Driver
    Team
    Time
    Laps
    1
    Alexander Albon
    DAMS
    1:54.480
    9
    2
    Lando Norris
    Carlin
    1:54.694
    8
    3
    George Russell
    ART Grand Prix
    1:54.842
    10
    4
    Luca Ghiotto
    Campos Vexatec Racing
    1:54.980
    10
    5
    Santino Ferrucci
    Trident
    1:55.200
    9
    6
    Sergio Sette Camara
    Carlin
    1:55.212
    9
    7
    Jack Aitken
    ART Grand Prix
    1:55.236
    9
    8
    Arjun Maini
    Trident
    1:55.474
    9
    9
    Nyck de Vries
    PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
    1:55.728
    9
    10
    Ralph Boschung
    MP Motorsport
    1:55.761
    9
    11
    Maximilian Günther
    BWT Arden
    1:55.970
    9
    12
    Tadasuke Makino
    RUSSIAN TIME
    1:56.139
    8
    13
    Roberto Merhi
    MP Motorsport
    1:56.532
    9
    14
    Antonio Fuoco
    Charouz Racing System
    1:57.090
    9
    15
    Louis Delétraz
    Charouz Racing System
    1:57.105
    9
    16
    Nirei Fukuzumi
    BWT Arden
    1:57.351
    9
    17
    Sean Gelael
    PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
    1:57.508
    10
    18
    Artem Markelov
    RUSSIAN TIME
    1:57.604
    9
    19
    Roy Nissany
    Campos Vexatec Racing
    2:01.902
    5
    20
    Nicholas Latifi
    DAMS
    2:02.970
    8

  • Norris breezes to maiden victory in Bahrain feature race; Arjun Maini 15th

    Sakhir (Bahrain), April 7: Lando Norris secured his first FIA Formula 2 Championship victory in the Feature Race here on Saturday.
    Indian racer Arjun Maini of Trident team could finish only in the 15th place after he started on P14.
    Norris mastered the hot and windy conditions to win with a 8.3s advantage over Carlin teammate Sergio Sette Camara, who held onto second place after a thrilling battle in the final stages of the race with Russian Time’s Artem Markelov, the latter producing a spectacular recovery drive to secure the final podium position.
    With the majority of the field, save from the Trident team, opting to start on the medium-compound tyres, degradation was a hotly anticipated factor in the race. An aborted start was called at the beginning, as Markelov and MP Motorsport’s Roberto Merhi stalled on the grid and prompted a second formation lap; the Russian then took to the pits to restart from the back of the field while the Spanish driver retired from mechanical failure.
    At the second time of asking, Norris made a fantastic start to streak clear of the rest of the field, while Sette Camara took advantage of a slow start from George Russell to catapult himself into second. Russell, starting from the front row, also lost ground to a fast-starting Nyck de Vries and Nirei Fukuzumi, resulting in a scintillating scrap among them in the early stages of the race.
    De Vries soon put a move on Sette Camara to grab second, allowing Norris to scamper off into the distance at the rate of a second per lap. Further behind, Alexander Albon surged past Russell and subsequently did battle with De Vries and Sette Camara, the latter of whom ultimately won out for second as the Dutchman began to drop back.
    Seemingly unflappable in the lead, Norris had the luxury of not needing to react to the others once they’d begun to make their stops. Louis Delétraz opened proceedings among the top ten on lap 14, with Russell blinking a lap later – staying ahead of the Swiss driver. Sette Camara and Albon came in together later on and dropped behind Russell as they rejoined the track.
    Meanwhile, Markelov was charging forward, having dispatched the majority of the field with a flurry of well-timed passes into Turn 1, and continued to carve through the pack after his own stop on lap 16. Norris switched to the soft compound two laps later, continuing with the lead on his return to the track as the pair of Sette Camara and Albon returned to second and third after clearing Russell.
    Markelov also passed the British driver, with third-placed Albon next on his radar. Once more, the Russian used his DRS to blitz past at the first corner and, although the Thai driver fought back across the next few corners, the Renault development driver held firm to secure third.
    In the final five laps, Norris started to lose fractions of his 10 second lead to his teammate, who was simultaneously under attack from Markelov. The Brazilian was inch-perfect in his defence of second when Markelov approached, orchestrating an excellent switch back manoeuvre at the start of the final lap to hold second.
    Norris took the chequered flag after a seemingly untouchable performance, walking away with an impressive 31 points with pole, win and fastest lap. Sette Camara and Markelov’s battle for second delighted the crowd up to the line ahead of Albon.
    Russell kept fifth having lost ground to the front four, as Nyck De Vries completed the top six having fallen out of contention in the midway stages. Sean Gelael converted an early pitstop into seventh place from P19 on the grid, as Maximilian Günther, Jack Aitken and Ralph Boschung all battled hard to end the race in the top ten.
    Günther begins tomorrow’s Sprint Race from reverse-grid pole, and will start alongside Gelael as Norris will seek to win the second race of the weekend from eighth.
    2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship – Round 1 Feature Race Provisional Classification
    Driver
    Team
    1
    Lando Norris
    Carlin
    2
    Sergio Sette Camara
    Carlin
    3
    Artem Markelov
    RUSSIAN TIME
    4
    Alexander Albon
    DAMS
    5
    George Russell
    ART Grand Prix
    6
    Nyck de Vries
    PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
    7
    Sean Gelael
    PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
    8
    Maximilian Gunther
    BWT Arden
    9
    Jack Aitken
    ART Grand Prix
    10
    Ralph Boschung
    MP Motorsport
    11
    Nicholas Latifi
    DAMS
    12
    Luca Ghiotto
    Campos Vexatec Racing
    13
    Louis Deletraz
    Charouz Racing System
    14
    Santino Ferrucci
    Trident
    15
    Arjun Maini
    Trident
    16
    Roy Nissany
    Campos Vexatec Racing
    17
    Antonio Fuoco
    Charouz Racing System
    18
    Nirei Fukuzumi
    BWT Arden
    19
    Tadasuke Makino
    RUSSIAN TIME
    —
    Roberto Merhi
    MP Motorsport