Jordan's Track Talk

Category: Formula Two

  • F2 Jeddah- Day 1

    Our first day of having Formula 2 cars back on track today and I don’t think we was disappointed. All 22 cars took to the new track in Saudi Arabia with 4 of the drivers moving up from Formula 3.

    Free Practice-

    We had a bit of a delay to the start of our Friday due to temporary operational delays but once we got started it was Armstrong who led the grid out onto the 46 degree track!

    Twenty of the drivers went back into the pits after the installations but both MP drivers Novalak and Doohan went round the circuit for another lap to get to terms with the car/grip of the track.

    One of the four debutants didn’t have the best afternoon, Logan Sargeant lost control of his HWA in Sector 3 where he collided with the wall which caused a Red Flag.

    PREMA are just on fire this season but it being their other driver Robert Shwartzman who topped free practice with a 1:42.623 ahead of Ralph Boschung and Carlin’s Dan Ticktum.

    The full top 10 were: P1: Shwartzman, P2: Boschung, P3: Ticktum, P4: Drugovich, P5: Armstrong, P6: Vips, P7: Zhou, P8: Doohan, P9: Lundgaard, P10: Piastri.

    Jack Doohan of Australia and MP Motorsport drives during practice ahead of Round 7:Jeddah of the Formula 2 Championship at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on...
    JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – DECEMBER 03: Jack Doohan of Australia and MP Motorsport (11) drives during practice ahead of Round 7:Jeddah of the Formula 2 Championship at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on December 03, 2021 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

    Qualifying:

    WOW, the amount of close calls I saw during the Qualifying session I had to hold my breath, this track is something else…

    Moving on to the result of qualifying, Oscar Piastri lapped a 1:40.878 so he claims his FOURTH pole in a row he is now the only second driver to do this! His team-mate Shwartzman will be starting next to him on Sundays Feature Race.

    It looked like Shwartzman had pole position during the majority of qualifying as no-one was improving their times until Pourchaire came all along and took it off him, but the Russian came fighting back and got pole position again.

    Zhou had been struggling quite a bit during this session, it may be because of temperature and getting the heat into tyres? The first half of the session he was down in 9th but once he pitted and came out with fresh tyres he managed to get 3rd on his first run.

    The top 10 for Sundays Feature Race are as follows: P1: Piastri, P2: Shwartzman, P3: Pourchaire, P4: Lundgaard, P5: Drugovich, P6: Zhou, P7: Boschung, P8: Vips, P9: Armstrong, P10: Lawson.

    So for tomorrows first Sprint Race we have Liam Lawson on pole position with Marcus Armstrong in second and Lawson’s team-mate Juri Vips in third!

  • Saudi Arabian GP

    Another weekend, another Grand Prix and this weekend we are in Saudi Arabia for the first ever Grand Prix here its round 21 out of 22 and it should be an exciting one!

    With the points gap between Lewis and Max slowly come down, can Lewis win his third race in a row? Or will max want to try and go into the final race next week with a bigger point gap than 8 points…

    Who needs a good weekend?

    Obviously both title contenders, Max probably more so than Lewis as Lewis has been on top form the past couple of races, with it being a new track both drivers are at the same level this weekend.

    Now moving onto the other Red Bull and Mercedes drivers, they will both be fighting each other on Sunday, to get more points for the Constructors, also both Perez and Bottas will be used to try and take the fastest point away depending on who has it and how the race is going.

    Again McLaren, it seems that lots of people think this track will suit the papaya team because of how fast its meant to be, but no-one really knows until we hit the track on Friday. Both McLaren drivers will need to have a good weekend and have the strategy perfect if they want to try and close the gap and also help Lando secure P5 in the championship as Leclerc is getting closer to that spot.

    Predictions for Qualifying-

    My top five are: Pole- Hamilton, P2- Bottas, P3- Verstappen, P4- Perez and P5- Gasly. I don’t think you can count out Gasly from a good qualifying his been on such good form!

    Two other drivers you cant count are the Ferrari boys, they seem to have such a good understanding of the car and they always qualify near each other which is beneficial when strategies come into play during the race.

    Times for the weekend-

    Formula 1- Friday 3rd- FP1: 13:30pm – 14:30pm (GMT), 14:30pm – 15:30pm (CET). FP2: 17:00pm – 18:00pm (GMT), 18:00pm – 19:00pm (CET).

    Saturday 4th- FP3: 14:00pm – 15:00pm (GMT), 15:00pm – 16:00pm (CET). Qualifying- 17:00pm – 18:00pm (GMT), 18:00pm – 19:00pm (CET).

    Sunday 5th- Race: 17:30pm (GMT), 18:30pm (CET).

    Formula 2- Friday 3rd- Free Practice: 11:10am – 11:55am (GMT), 12:10pm – 12:55pm (CET). Qualifying: 15:20pm – 15:50pm (GMT), 16:20pm – 16:50pm (CET).

    Saturday 4th- Sprint Race 1: 12:30pm – 13:15pm (GMT), 13:30pm – 14:15pm (CET). Sprint Race 2: 18:40pm – 19:25pm (GMT), 19:40pm – 20:25pm (CET).

    Sunday 5th- Feature Race: 14:25pm (GMT), 15:25pm (CET).

  • Doohan stepping up

    Another Formula 3 driver is making their Formula 2 debut this weekend, this time it is Jack Doohan and he will be joining MP Motorsport for the final two rounds of 2021.

    Doohan took part in Formula 3 this year which saw him battle Dennis Hauger, where h won four times and took two more podiums, he finished 2nd overall.

    The Australian will be replacing Richard Verschoor, due to the Dutchman having financial issues play part in the final two rounds of 2021 which is a massive shame just like all the other drivers this year. Doohan will be partnering up with his 2021 Trident teammate Clément Novalak who will also be making his Formula 2 debut this weekend.

    “I am very excited and very happy to be partnering with MP Motorsport for the final two rounds of the Formula 2 Championship,” said Doohan. “It is an amazing opportunity. I cannot thank the team enough, as well my family and everyone who has enabled me to do these last two rounds. This opportunity will give me a little bit of a foundation and a base before I start my prep for next year. I am super excited. I don’t have any real goals as I haven’t been in anything higher than a Formula 3 car before. Free Practice will be my first time in something higher than Formula 3, so my expectations are very minimal. My goal is to get as much track time as possible and to constantly be learning. I am really excited, it is awesome to be heading to the circuits in Jeddah and Yas Marina, I can’t wait.”

    My Opinion-

    Mixed feelings on this, but only because I liked seeing Verschoor race! Obviously gutting for him but it is all about money in F2 and sometimes it just isn’t possible to carry on, but i’ll be keeping an eye on what to see he does in his future!

    Now onto Jack, this is exciting a lot of F3 drivers this weekend in F2 which makes it exciting and gives them a step up for next year if they manage to get a seat. I definitely think a few teams will be watching Jack especially more so after his year in F3.

  • Sargeant racing in Jeddah

    Logan Sargeant, who raced in F3 this year will make his Formula 2 debut this weekend in Jeddah with HWA Racelab.

    Sargeant who got announced as a member of the Williams Academy in October, has had a good streak of winning, he won this year in F3, he was also a title challenger with Prema in 2020 as he just missed out on the Championship to Alpines Reserve and current F2 leader, Oscar Piastri.

    HWA has had a rough time this year with drivers, their original line up being Alessio Deledda and Mateo Nannini, but Nannini wanted to focus on Formula 3 more so Jack Aitken came in and raced in Monaco, Baku and Silverstone, it looked like he was going to be in for the rest of the season until he had a nasty crash during the big F2 break.

    To replace Aitken as his injuries were to severe to race, Jake Hughes comes in to play who has won in F3 multiple times. Hughes was in for Monza and Sochi. And now enters Logan Sargeant… It will be more than likely he will race in Abu Dhabi next week to.

    My Opinion-

    Finally!! Well deserved in all honesty, it will be interesting to see what he can get from the car this weekend, I have no doubt he will put his all in to impress teams to hopefully get a seat in 2022.

  • Tyres for Jeddah

    The tyres for this weekends Grand Prix has been announced, just like Qatar no-one has any data from previous years, but this track is a little different to Qatar as this circuit has only just been built!

    The three compounds which have been chosen are: C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium), C4 (Soft), this is the most common selection which has been picked this year.

    Jeddah and Qatar are two very different circuits, both new to the F1 calendar, but the teams knew the Qatar circuit would put stress on the Pirelli tyres during the race. With only the simulations from the teams for Jeddah it is suggested that the middle compounds in the range are the best, it should be well suited to the fast and flowing street race with over 50 laps on Sunday.

    The Track-

    The track itself has been designed by well known circuit architect Hermann Tilke, he has designed circuits such as Bahrain International Circuit, Istanbul Park Racing Circuit, Shanghai International Circuit, Yas Marina Circuit and the Circuit of the Americas.

    The track is a 6.174-kilometre track, its the longest street circuit on the calendar and the second longest of the year after Spa. It is also set to be one of the fastest with an average speed of 250kph, that is only just behind the Temple of Speed.

    Now onto the most demanding turns, is Turn 13 a left hander which features a 12 degree banking that should place high g forces on the tyres. Jeddah has a total of 27 corners which will keep the tyres working hard throughout the race.

    The track looks quite unforgiving in the sense that parts of the track are quite narrow and the walls close to the side of the track which could lead to a high possibility of seeing the safety car during the race which will affect teams strategy.

    As its a new track, the track itself will be quite slippery to start off with on Friday but with Formula 2 and a Porsche competition throughout the weekend this will help with track evolution.

    We also have Formula 2 this weekend, the tyres which have been chosen is the Medium and Super soft compound, which is the most common combination picked this year.

  • F2- 2 Rounds Left

    Finally after a long 10 weeks we now have Formula 2 back for the last two rounds of the 2021 Championship. Let’s take a look at what happened on our last race weekend in Sochi, the Championship and what to expect this weekend!

    We only had one sprint race and a feature race in Russia due to the weather. Sprint race 1 saw Dan Ticktum win, with Juri Vips finish second and Robert Shwartzman in third.

    Both UNI-Virtuosis didn’t start the race which meant the Championship leader Oscar Piastri could try and further his lead but he only finished 9th.

    Now onto the feature race, Oscar Piastri managed to get pole on the Friday and he turned his pole into the feature race win, his second consecutive feature race win, this also saw him extend his championship lead.

    Theo Pourchaire finished second with Jehan Daruvala finished 3rd! Whilst Zhou who is fighting for the championship finished 6th.

    It wasn’t Guanyu Zhou’s weekend when we was in Russia, he could of scored good points but with a DNS and a 7th the gap between him and Oscar could of been less significant!

    The Championship-

    There is only, 36 points between Piastri and Zhou, even though you may think it’s a lot it’s really not consider they have 3 races a weekend and 6 left of 2021.

    Shwartzman is closing in on Zhou only 7 points between the pair, Shwartzman is most definitely going to look to see if he can get those 7 points and more this weekend.

    Prema are flying away with the Teams Championship they are currently on 313 points, in 2nd is Carlin and they are on 225 points which has seen them grab lots of podiums and wins this season, in 3rd we have UNI-Virtusoi they are on 201 points, its all down to these final races now!

    What to expect this weekend-

    Considering Jeddah is a brand new track to every driver on the grid its going to be quite difficult to get right even more so because of the long break we have had it will take quite a lot of running in free practice to get comfortable again. We saw this happen earlier on in the season where we had a long break between races and when drivers got back to a race weekend it took a little while to get things right.

    A close battle between Zhou and Piastri as usual but maybe an appearance from Ticktum and possibly Pourchaire? Both drivers been very strong this year so I will definitely be keeping an eye on them.

  • Caldwell stepping up for remaining rounds

    It has been announced that Olli Caldwell, will be racing for Campos in the final two rounds of the Formula 2 Championship.

    This year Olli has been competing in Formula 3 with Prema which saw him take one win and three further podiums, it is his second year in F3 with his rookie campaign he drove with Trident where he scored four top 10 finishes.

    Not only has Olli won in F3, he has also won in UAE, ADAC and Italian F4, as well as claiming seven podiums and a win in the 2019 Formula Regional European Championship where he finished 5th.

    Olli will be replacing David Beckmann, who has already had to leave F2 once already this year due to financial reasons, it hasn’t been said why this time but its most likely the same issue.

    “I’m excited to join Campos for the last two rounds,” said Caldwell, “They’ve made good progression throughout the year so I’m really looking forward to working with them. I want to thank the team for the opportunity, I can’t wait to see what the car can do and gain experience ahead of my goal of a full season in Formula 2 next year.”

    Campos Racing Sporting Director added: “I would like to extend a warm welcome to Olli from Campos Racing. Olli is a driver who always awakened our interest and very recently he has played a key role in the FIA Formula 3 in which he performed excellently. Our goal is to help him to rapidly adapt to the Formula 2 car. We feel confident that joining Ralph, our driver line-up will be able to deliver strong performances and achieve top results during the last two rounds.”

    My Opinion-

    I think this is great! Olli is a talented driver and it shows within his results in single seaters. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do in Saudia Arabia and Abu Dhabi. Hopefully this will lead to a seat for 2022!

  • Boschung to stay in F2

    Another F2 seat is now taken for the 2022 season! And that seat is taken by Ralph Boschung who is staying with Campos.

    Boschung is one of the most experienced drivers on the F2 grid, but his aim is to help Campos build on the progress that they have made this year.

    It’s currently his strongest season in F2, currently Ralph is sitting in 12th with 40 points and has had six top 10 finishes with 6 races to go! As for the Teams Championship, Campos are currently sat in 7th, which is better than last year as they finished 9th.

    Boschung is use to winning races with experience in GP3, ADAC Formel Masters and the Formula BMW Talent Cup.

    “I’m very grateful and happy to continue with Campos Racing for the 2022 FIA Formula 2 championship season,” said Boschung. “I believe in continuity and loyalty, these are strong assets we have together as a team. I want to thank Adrian Campos-Suñer Torres. and the whole of Campos Racing for giving me the opportunity and especially my sponsors Casa Andrea and L By Raphaëlle, without them this would not be possible.”

    Sporting Director Adrián Campos added: “We are extremely happy to have Ralph for another season. After the hard-hit received at the beginning of this year, the team has worked very hard and has been more united than ever and this now has paid off. For next season we are going to be more demanding and we want to continue an upward trend in terms of results. I want to personally thank Ralph and all the people who support him for the trust placed in Campos Racing for one more season.”

    My Opinion-

    It’s a good move from Campos to have Boschung stay for another year, he knows the team well and they both have a big amount of trust in each other. I’m looking forward to seeing what both Ralph and Campos can do next year.

  • Novalek in F2 2022

    The first driver announcement for 2022 has been announced! MP Motorsport has confirmed the signing of Formula 3 driver, Clément Novalak for the final two rounds of 2021 and the full 2022 season.

    Novalak will be replacing Lirim Zendeli after Lirim has had to pull out due to financial reasons taking place once again which is a big shame for him. Lirim is currently sat in 17th with 13 points.

    Novalak had a very good year in F3 this year, overall he finished 3rd in the driver’s championship and he helped Trident secure the Teams Championship which saw him score four podiums.

    Taking a look into his career he has excelled, he won the 2019 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship with Carlin and then moved up into Formula Three where he competed for two years with his first being with Carlin Buzz and his second with Trident.

    “I’m delighted to get my first taste of F2 as soon as at Jeddah and Yas Marina,” said Novalak. “This will only help me towards my ambitions for a first full season in F2 in 2022. I’m truly thankful to MP Motorsport for handing me this opportunity, and I fully intend to make the most of it. MP has been a race-winning outfit in F2 for the past two years, so I hope that teaming up with them will allow me to return to my winning ways. I can’t wait to get started!”

    MP Motorsport team manager Sander Dorsman added: ““We are very happy to welcome Clément in our F2 line-up for 2022, and are especially excited to give him his first runs in a Formula 2 car in the six 2021 races still coming up. He pulled together a very strong season in F3, and especially his late run of form that took him up from sixth to third in the standings was extremely impressive. We are aiming to capitalise on that momentum by putting him in one of our F2 cars in the two remaining rounds on the Arabian peninsula. For next year, I’m sure he will be among the outstanding rookies of the year.”

    My Opinion-

    I think this is great! I catched a few of the F3 races this year and saw how well Novalak was doing so I have no doubt he will do well next year. Also having the last two rounds this year to jump in on will give him a head start with the team and build a relationship which could be vital for next year.

    Now lets wait and see who else gets announced for the Formula 2 2022 Championship!

  • F2 & F3 points allocation

    More changes are coming to Formula Two and Three next year as they have announced new points allocation as they make changes to the Sporting Regulations.

    This follows as announcement was made earlier that the weekend formats have changed for both F2 and F3 next year.

    For Formula 2 the top 8 who finish in the sprint race will be awarded points, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.

    Whereas with Formula 3 the top 10 will be awarded points in the sprint race 10. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 point.

    For F2 and F3 the feature race point allocation will not change which is the top 10 scoring points (the same as F1).

    Starting from 2022 aswell, only two points will be awarded for pole position in both championships. And in each race, one point will be allocated to the driver who has the fastest lap.

    My Opinion-

    With things changing in both categories it makes sense for the points allocation to change too. It gives the drivers more determination to want to score better and make there way up to the next level.

    I think we’re going to be in a real treat next year in both F2 and F3, with some bright talents coming through it’ll make for some exciting races!

  • F2, F3 announce ’22 calendar

    So with Formula One announcing their calendar for next season, Formula Two and Three have announced theirs!

    Formula Two will have a total of 14 rounds, which will see two races each round, so a total of 28 races, it will make the most sizeable calendar since the launch of the championship in 2017.

    The season will kick off in Bahrain on the weekend of 18th March and with it finishing on the weekend of 18th November in Abu Dhabi. F2 will be going to two new tracks which are Imola and Zandvoort.

    CEO Bruno Michel said: “I am pleased to present the largest calendar we have ever had in Formula 2, with 14 rounds and 28 races. This results from a strong will from our stakeholders to have F2 race alongside as many Formula 1 Grand Prix as possible.”

    F3 will have a total of nine rounds, which makes it an 18 race championship. Again F3 will start in Bahrain on the same weekend as F1, it will end on the weekend of 9th September in Monza, just like this year. Also F3 will be at two new circuits next year and they are Zakhir, Bahrain and Imola, Italy.

    CEO Bruno Michel said: “Our 2022 Formula 3 season will start at the Bahrain International Circuit, at the opening round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship and the new Formula 2 campaign. It will be very exciting to start all together.”

    My Opinion-

    I’m very much looking forward to both F2 and F3 next year, especially with both series racing at new tracks and both of them being on the same weekends as F1.

    With F2 this year there has been pretty big gaps, the season started end of March and then the next race weekend was 20th May. And then again currently we are on our 4th week of a 10 week break until the season comes back for the last two rounds. So they have planned it well so there isn’t as big of breaks.

    With F3 they started quite late this year compared to next, they started in May where as next year they will be starting in March. They have been able to bring a couple more races in to make the season a bit longer without big gaps.

  • 2022 Race Format

    A change is coming to Formula 2 and 3 next year as over the weekend it got announced a new format is coming in 2022, for both Formula Two and Formula Three.

    The weekend will be made up of one sprint race and one feature race. Friday will stay the same with a free practice session and then qualifying later on. Saturday will have one sprint race and then on the Sunday the feature race which stays the same.

    Formula Three will join Formula Two when they race, which they will both be racing on the same weekend as F1! The number of events for F2 and F3 next year will be announced in due course.

    Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula 1, said: “We are pleased to announce the changes to the weekend format for Formula 2 and 3 for next season and I am grateful to Bruno and the teams for their efforts to make this happen.”

    FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 CEO Bruno Michel commented: “In 2021, we introduced a new race weekend format and chose to have F2 and F3 race separately, mainly for costs reasons, and it proved to be quite efficient.”

    Why have they changed it?

    Bruno Michel said that there was too much time between each event. Which isn’t ideal for the teams, drivers and the fans.
    Which is true considering we are currently on a 10 week break from F2, and it doesn’t return until December. We saw what happened when F2 returned to Monza after a 8 week break from Silverstone, it was a crazy first sprint race!

    My Opinion-

    I think this is a good idea, the 2 sprint races and feature race are good but i feel as if that having one sprint and a feature is better because theres a lot more focus onto the feature. Having F2 and F3 on the same weekend is really good because it gives a lot of racing over the weekend and it gives F1 fans the chance to watch it too and potentially bring new fans to F2 and F3.

    I can imagine having both series with F1 they may look at putting more races on the calendar for both F2 and F3, even more so that the amount they race over the weekend would have gone down by one race.

  • F2 Sochi- Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    To start the second day of the F2 weekend where we normally have two sprint races, the second one was cancelled because of the weather… we had the first sprint race moved to the afternoon.

    So onto the only sprint race of the weekend… we had Dan Ticktum starting in pole and he managed to have a cool, calm and collected race and turned it into the race win!

    Joining him on the podium was Red Bull Junior, Juri Vips in P2 and in P3 was Robert Shwartzman.

    I can imagine Shwartzman is very happy about P3, it’s his home race and being on the podium must’ve meant a lot to him! Also he is closing in on Piastri and Zhou in the championship!

    The drama started before the lights even went out, when on the way to the grid Felipe Drugovich made heavy impact with the wall and could not start the race. And the other UNI-Virtuosi driven by Guanyu Zhou spun on his way to the grid but stalled his car and unable to take part in the start of the race.

    Somebody I have to mention is Jake Hughes! He has stepped in for Jack Aitken in the HWA Racelab car and he was fighting Shwartzman for his first podium in F2 and first points finish, he run in fourth for the majority of the race after Liam Lawson retired.

    Day 3-

    The championship leader, Oscar Piastri wins the Feature race, his now got back to back feature race wins and extends his championship lead even more! Joining him is Theo Pourchaire in P2 and Jehan Daruvala in P3!

    What a drive from Oscar Piastri! Well deserved in my opinion. Looking forward to seeing what he does in the last 2 rounds of the season in December.

    Dan Ticktum made his way up from 10th to 5th scoring more points for Carlin and himself as he currently sits in P4 in the championship. His team mate done very well securing Carlin with another trophy this weekend and a good amount of points!

    Definitely not Guanyu Zhou’s weekend… obviously didn’t start Sprint Race 1 and then Sprint Race 2 cancelled, and then the Feature Race, he finished in 6th… couldn’t put pressure on Dan Ticktum in 5th.

    We now have a big gap till the next race, but when we are back we’re being treated to a double header! We will see you in Saudi Arabia on the 3rd to 5th of December!

  • F2 Sochi – Day 1

    We are back with F2 this weekend for round 6 out of 8. Can Oscar Piastri extend his championship lead? Or will Guanyu Zhou be victorious and take it all away from him?

    Free Practice-

    As usual, free practice up first and it saw UNI-Virtuosi take the lead with Felipe Drugovich finishing in P1 he led from, Ralph Boschung and Theo Pourchaire

    The session had a brief red flag as there was a spin by Alessio Deledda and his HWA had to be recovered by the marshals.

    The championship leader was all the way down in 10th, where as the other title contender, Guanyu Zhou was in 4th just in front of Juri Vips.

    Qualifying-

    Qualifying saw Oscar Piastri take his third police in a row! His joined by Johan Daruvala on the front row on Sunday! Lining up behind them on the second row is Pourchaire and Zhou.

    Reverse grid pole goes to Dan Ticktum for tomorrow’s first race, his joined by Vips next to him!

    Tomorrow is all to play for, it could be a very interesting race if it’s raining like it’s forecasted!

    Times for the rest of the weekend-

    Saturday- Sprint Race 1: 8:30am (BST), 9:30am (CEST). Sprint Race 2: 14:45pm (BST), 15:45pm (CEST).

    Sunday- Feature Race: 9:20am (BST), 10:20am (CEST)

  • Tyres for Sochi

    Its race week once again, after being off for a week we are returning to Sochi, Russia this weekend for Round 15.

    Pirelli have chosen their tyres and they are the softest of the compounds, C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft), this is the first time these have been picked since Austria, it is also the same nomination which was made last season.

    This circuit, is generally all about traction and breaking, the corners are mostly slow to medium speed but the most demanding corner is turn 3, which is a multi-apex left hander.

    Sochi, isn’t used much for the rest of the season so its often seen to be slippery towards the start of the weekend, this can then sometimes cause tyres to slide rather than grip especially during the two free practice sessions on the Friday.

    Russia is normally a one-stop race, last year the top two finishers used a medium to hard strategy but there was a variation down the rest of the grid.

    This weekend, we just don’t have Formula One, we are also joint by Formula Two for round six and by Formula Three for their last round of the season and its the first time they will be in Russia since 2019.

    F2 have been nominated, the Mediums and the Purples (Ultra-soft) which was the same as last year. F3 have been nominated the Hard tyre for their final 3 races of the 2021 season.

  • F2 Monza- Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Sprint Race 1-

    Theo Pourchaire took his second win of the season, he started in fourth and was on the charge from the get go. He was joined in P2 by title contender Guanyu Zhou who made up six places to finish on the podium and third goes to my driver of the sprint race 1, Christian Lundgaard. He started 19th to finish on the final podium spot.

    Juri Vips stole the lead from from reverse pole sitter, David Beckmann. However they struggled with tyre degradation and they both finished in eight and tenth.

    There was a lot of drama for the first race back after a two month break. Dan Ticktum locked up and missed his braking point. Then he was tagged by Felipe Drugovich and spun round which was meant he was the first one out of the race. Then the VSC made an appearance due to Drugovich he lost his Virtuosi car at Ascari and skidded into the gravel.

    Then Roy Nissany, spun to a stop on track which brought out the second safety car which then brings our tally off 3 out of the race. Zendeli’s race finished with three laps to go as he pulled his car over to a stop at the side of the road.

    Sprint Race 2-

    Carlin’s, Jehan Daruvala took the second sprint race win and his first victory of the season. He was joined by Bent Viscaal and Robert Shwartzman who took his fourth podium of the year.

    This race was quite quiet compared to the mornings race. A VSC was needed when HWA Racelab team-mates collided which left Jake Hughes’ car in the wall. Guilherme Samia also had to pull his car to a stop at the pit entry.

    Day 2-

    Feature Race-

    The feature race was quite chaotic, it saw Oscar Piastri win, with his title rival Guanyu Zhou coming in second and a late charge by Dan Ticktum saw him finished 3rd.

    We had a total of 7 drivers not finish the race… First up was Guilherme Samaia, who lost it our of Lesmo 2 which at first brought out a VSC then a full safety car. Once the racing resumed it was all going on with a slow stop for Boschung who dropped to the back off the pack.

    Then a full safety car was deployed due to contact between Ticktum and Vips at the second chicane, Vips was pulling over with a problem when Ticktum made contact with his left rear but somehow managed to escape without damage. This then led to most of the grid to pit.

    Sato was running in P2, when he was forced to retire on lap ten as their was a loss of electrical power. Deledda then suffered damage on lap 13 after banging wheels with Enzo Fittipaldi.

    The Safety car was then needed for Liam Lawson on lap 222 as he suffered a fault with his fire extinguisher and had to ground to a halt, which was a shame for him as he was looking very strong in the race.

    And finally the last safety car came on the final lap as there was contact between Beckmann and Viscaal at the first chicane which saw one car in the wall and the other stranded on track…

    What does this mean for the championship?

    So going into this weekend, Oscar Piastri was leading the championship and luckily for him, coming out of this weekend he will still be leading it. Guanyu Zhou will follow him closely behind not giving up on the title fight.

    Our next race is in two weeks and we are in Sochi, Russia from the 24th to the 26th of September, where the title fight will continue!

  • F2 Monza- Day 1

    We are back racing once more with Formula Two as they have just had their first day in Monza done! We have had a couple of changes to the grid this week, we saw Jake Hughes returning to HWA Racelab following an injury to Jack Aitken, while David Beckmann had swapped Charouz Racing System for Campos Racing with Enzo Fittipaldi stepping up from Formula 3 to take his place.

    Free Practice-

    Ticktum topped the charts in the free practice session this morning and for the second round in a row, he done a lap of 1:33.042 ahead of Pourchaire and Daruvala. It was then Beckmann and championship leader Piastri who closed off the top 5.

    A Virtual Safety Car was needed with only 11 minutes on the clock as Roy Nissany had to pull onto the grass as he had smoke coming from the back of his DAMs, running however did resume with only five minutes left.

    Qualifying-

    Qualifying showed us Piastri is on fire and wants to keep his championship lead! He grabs pole for the Feature Race on Sunday with a 1:32.199 ahead of Jehan Daruvala and Guanyu Zhou.

    Somebody who shocked me was Ralph Boschung, he done an amazing lap in quali and he was near the top but with drivers doing more fast laps the order soon changed which pushed him down to P6.

    Another one who shocked me is Lundgaard his starting in P19, I thought he would off been closer to the top 10, but as this is a track where there are opportunities to over take he could easily claw some points in hopefully!

    As we have the results we now have our reverse grid for tomorrows first sprint race it see’s Beckmann on pole with Red Bull junior Juri Vips joining him on the front row.

    Times for tomorrow-

    Sprint Race 1- 7:50am (BST), 8:50am (CEST).

    Sprint Race 2- 13:45pm (BST), 14:45pm (CEST).

  • Enzo Fittipaldi joins F2

    Charouz Racing System have announced today that Enzo Fittipaldi is set to replace David Beckmann from Monza onwards. This comes as David Beckmann announced on his social media today that due to financial reasons he can’t carry on with F2 this season.

    Beckmann departs with two podiums with Charouz, these were scored in the opening two round of this season. “I’m sorry to leave Charouz Racing System for the end of the FIA Formula 2 season,” said Beckmann. “It’s not an easy choice, but I had to do it because it’s the right thing. The financial situation has dramatically changed compared to the start of this project, but this doesn’t change the great work we did together.

    Enzo was with Charouz Racing in F3 until last weekend at Spa as it got announced he was being replaced, and now we know why he was replaced.

    He has a very good career so far in single seaters, which includes the 2018 Italian Formula 4 Champion, third place in the 2018 ADAC F4 championship and second in the 2019 Formula Regional European campaign.

    “I am extremely happy to be making my debut in the FIA Formula 2 championship,” said Fittipaldi. “I really want to thank Charouz Racing System and all my sponsors for this opportunity. We had a very solid first part of the F3 season together and I am looking forward to the next chapter.”

    Charouz are currently sat ninth in the teams championship with 25 points. The team manager Bob Vavrik added “We’re all very happy to welcome Enzo to the F2 squad. The plan was racing together for the 2022 season, with a winter training and testing program.”

    My Opinion-

    It’s not nice to see someone leave Formula Two because of money and it isn’t the first time its happened this season either, so it is a massive shame to see Beckmann leave but everything costs money nowadays.

    However i’m happy to see that its Fittipaldi, I did have a feeling he would be joining F2 next year, so this gives him this extra added experience for next year if he is to stay.

  • Lundgaard to make debut in IndyCar

    Alpine junior Christian Lundgaard is getting his first taste of IndyCar this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. He will be driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

    This opportunity comes for Christian as he tested for the team a few weeks ago and RLL said that it was an eye-catching test with the team which has led him to this incredible opportunity to develop his racing skills and career. “We were very pleased with the job that Christian did at our recent test at Barber Motorsports Park and are looking forward to seeing him perform at Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” said Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with David Letterman and Mike Lanigan. “It’s going to be a new experience and a big challenge due to the lack of practice time compared to other races.”

    “I’m super excited to try Indy Car next week,” said Christian Lundgaard, who will pilot the No. 45 Honda-powered entry. “I’ve been very fortunate so far in my career to drive some incredible race cars and I’m looking forward to officially adding INDYCAR to that list.”

    Lundgaard is currently driving for ART Grand Prix in Formula Two this year and is currently 12th in the standings. Last year he finished 7th in the Formula Two championship.

    Could this maybe be a look towards the future if he doesn’t get a seat in F1? I’m very much looking forward to seeing how he does in IndyCar though!

  • Dan Ticktum released by Williams

    Williams have officially released development driver Dan Ticktum with immediate effect. The Brit joined Williams back in 2020, after being dropped by Red Bull’s junior programme back in 2019.

    Ticktum helped Williams with their F1 team car development and also assisting them at the factory and at the race track. The reason for dropping is unknown however, Dan Ticktum took to his Instagram stories and said “Myself and Williams parted ways before the recent Latifi related incident just so people know. It wasn’t announced until now as there was no option for an F1 seat in 2022 for me. Thankyou to @williamsracing for the opportunity! Hope to work together in the future!”

    Dan is currently sitting fourth in the F2 championship, his only 19 points from the championship leader, Oscar Piastri…

    This now leaves Roy Nissany who has drove for the British team three times in FP3 this season, their reserve driver Jack Aitken and W Series champion Jamie Chadwick.

    My Opinion-

    Obviously a big shame for Dan as he hasn’t had an easy ride, first being dropped by RB and now Williams, it must be tough for him. I can’t really say much on my opinion for the reason of the departure as it hasn’t been officially announced, only what Ticktum has put onto his Instagram.

    Is this a sign for the future seats for Williams? Have they already decided on who will be in their seats this year? Only time will tell!

  • F2 Silverstone- Review

    The weekend just gone we had Formula Two joining F1 at the British GP and what a weekend it was for F2!

    Friday- On the Friday we had free practice and qualifying, Dan Ticktum topped the charts in FP with Piastri behind in and Vips in 3rd. We had one red flag during the practice and that was due to Pourchaire, he got out of the car okay and racing went back to normal after this. Next up we had qualifying, Oscar Piastri got his first ever pole position in F2, and Lundgaard got reverse pole for the first sprint race.

    Saturday- First up we had Sprint Race One and Robert Shwartzman claimed another win, making it his second of the season. In 2nd we had Juri Vips, and 3rd was Christian Lundgaard. The trio managed to survive four safety cars in the order they finished in! One of the safety cars was needed for Guanyu Zhou after he spun which didn’t put a good start to his weekend… We then have the Second Sprint Race, and we now have a new F2 race winner and that was Richard Verschoor his first ever F2 win! Marcus Armstrong joined him on the podium in 2nd and the Brit, Dan Ticktum in 3rd. Verschoor led every single lap from lights out to the flag making it a well deserved win. Guanyu and Robert didn’t socre any points in the 2nd sprint race.

    Sunday- On a Sunday we only have the Feature Race, so lets get into it! Guanyu Zhou made a comeback on the Sunday and won the Feature Race making it his third win of the season. Dan Ticktum in second with Oscar Piastri in third. Towards the end Piastri had to hold off Verschoor who was on a late charge for a podium but wasn’t successful.

    Who impressed me the most this weekend?

    I’m really impressed with Dan Ticktum this weekend, he was nice and consistent and obviously got on the podium twice which is a very good points haul for him and the Carlin team. I’d also say Richard Verschoor, obviously his first win within F2 and he scored some good points on the Sunday too, it seems like his got lots of confidence in the car which is very good!

    Who needs to improve?

    We have a little while till were next on track with F2, and the people I think who needs to improve are possibly Liam Lawson, I think his a very good young driver and obviously his got to grips with the HiTech car very quickly, but I expected more form him at Silverstone, but maybe the track just didn’t suit him this particular weekend. I also think Marcus Armstrong, his with the Ferrari Driver Academy so obviously very talented, but I feel like this season was his chance to prove that to people but only at the fourth round he scored his first podium this season!

    The next F2 race is in Monza and on the 10th to the 12th of September, i’m looking forward to see if we have a new championship leader after the weekend their or if Oscar Piastri can extend his!

  • F2 Baku- Day 2 & 3

    Honestly wow what a weekend! As always at Baku there was drama left, right and centre on the streets circuit! But here’s all the updates from day 2 and 3

    Day 2-

    Sprint Race 1-

    First up we had sprint race 1 where Robert Shwartzman won for the first time in 2021! Safe to say I think he is about to bounce back from a terrible start to his season. Followed him is Dan Ticktum in second and then Guanyu Zhou in third.

    The drama started on lap 1 where Jack Aitken spun at the start where as his team mate run wide and neither of them made it through to turn 2. We then had contact between Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri after they had a tap from Felipe Drugovich, which resulted in Lawson and Piastri to retire and Drugovich was handed a 10 second time penalty.

    Sprint Race 2-

    Now onto sprint race 2 and the drivers wanted to get to the first two corners unscathed but that wasn’t the case. Zhou and Ticktum locked up and spun at the first corner, Ticktum got by and contiued with the race where as Zhou had to retire. Then Ralph Boschung got caught by Theo Pourchaire, he managed to contiue on in the race where as Boschung had to retire. The two retirements were then joined by Zendeli after going wide at Turn 2.

    Beckmann managed to ace his restart once the safety car returned to the pits but the same could not be said for Viscaal as he lost another position and fell back to third behind Vips. The saftey car didnt stay in the pits for long as Nissany went into the back of Richard Verschoor.

    Once again another restart and there was drama further back in the field as Drugovich caught Christian Lundgaard and he went into the wall at turn 1. We then had Armstrongs DAMS end up in the wall as well, it only required a VSC but with six retirements and three separate stoppages, it gave the grid a very big shake up- Lawson who started in 20th was in 8th and Tickutm was back up in sixth after dropping to last on the opening lap. But it was Juri Vips who took the win along side Beckmann and Darauvala!

    Day 3-

    Now onto todays Feature Race! And what a race it was! Juri Vips claimed a back to back win in Formula Two this weekend, he was joined by Prema team mates Oscar Piastri and Robert Shwartzman.

    Jack Aitken was the only driver to line up on the mediums however the driver ended up starting from the pit lane after stopping on track during formation lap, there was also similar problems for Campos driver Matteo Nannini but he couldn’t get going again.

    Just like the sprint races this weekned, we had a safety car on the first lap due to Dan Ticktum, Theo Pourchaire and Marcus Armstrong, unfortunatley Armstrong ended up in the wall and then Pourchaire had to retire from the pits. Ticktum got a 10 second time penalty for that which I personally think is very harsh.

    Liam Lawson was also handed a 10 second time penalty for forcing Pourchaire off the track at the beginning of the race. Liam ended up finishing P6 and Ticktum P8 with fastest lap.

    Now we have a little break until the next round, and we will be returning to Silverstone, on the 16th to 18th July!

  • F2 Baku- Day 1

    We are back racing once again and we are in Baku! It will be interesting to see how the grid handles this track as for many of the drivers it is a first experience of the Baku City Circuit.

    Free Practice-

    Juri Vips topped the charts as he was finding the limits of Baku, he went seven-tenths faster than Ralph Boschung, and then we had race winner Theo Pourchaire finishing the top 3.

    Marino Sato skidded against the wall and destroyed his front right tyre. Where as Zendeli just got stuck in the run off area at Turn 16 which then brought out the virtual safety car.

    With only minutes to go it looked as if Boschung had it under control for topping the leader board however, Pourchaire and Vips found more time which made them go ahead of the Campos driver. However action was brought to a stop as Roy Nissany spun and struck the wall which ended out bringing the red flag and the session came to a close.

    Qualifying-

    The Hitech duo Liam Lawson and Juri Vips secured a 1-2 for Sunday’s feature race! It is Lawson’s first ever pole in Formula 2 and i’m sure it won’t be his last. Then in P3 we have Oscar Piastri.

    The rest of the top 10 look like this: P4- Pourchaire, P5- Ticktum, P6- Armstrong, P7- Boschung, P8- Zhou, P9-Daruvalva and P10- Shwartzman. This means Shwartzman will start P1 in tomorrows first Sprint Race👏🏻

    Roy Nissany had to sit out of Qualifying as he crashed out in free practice and because of the short turn around time they were unable to mend his car! He will be starting at the back of the grid tomorrow.

    After qualifying ended there were 3 penalties given out and one from before qualifying too they include- Marino Sato for creating a potential safety hazard for all other cars in free practice after his crash, he got a three place grid penalty which makes him start 20th after qualifying P19.

    Lundgaard, AItken and Samaia have all been handed three place grid penalties for tomorrows sprint race as they all impeded other drivers on push laps in qualifying. Lundgaard will start from P15, instead of P12. Aitken will now start P17 instead of P14 and Samaia will start P21 after qualifying 20th.

    The times for the rest of the weekend are the following: Sprint Race 1- Saturday at 8.25am (BST), 9.25am (CEST), Sprint Race 2- Saturday at 14.40pm (BST), 15.40pm (CEST) Feature Race- Sunday at 9.45am (BST), 10.45am (CEST).

  • Petecof confirms F2 exit

    Gianluca Petecof took to social media last night and told his followers he will not be taking part in Baku this weekend for Campos racing, this comes as he has had to pull out due to budget limitations.

    Petecof hasn’t had the best start to a season, in the opening round in Bahrain his in-car fire extinguisher went off in the feature race which forced him to retire. We then go onto the second round, Monaco which Petecof had only managed 9 laps in free practice before his engine blew up, he then qualified 10th in his group but then crashed out of the sprint race on the Friday, that was then followed by another crash at the start of Saturdays sprint race and then a 16th place in the feature race despite showing pace. In the two rounds we have had he hasn’t managed to score a single point yet.

    However Campos Racing have now announced that they have singed Matteo Nannini for Round 3 this weekend. Nannini has experience in F2 as he drove for HWA Racelab in Round 1 of this season where he scored a point but he gave up his spot so he can focus on Formula 3 and Williams Formula 1 reserve Jack Aitken took his spot for Round 2 & 3.

    Could we possibly see Nannini stay in F2 this year and juggle F3 as well? Or could we see Petecof return? Will Jack Aitken stay? There is so many unanswered questions but it will be very interesting to see what happens after Azerbaijan as we could potentially have two seats up for grabs…

  • Tyres for Azerbaijan

    This weekend we will be back in Azerbaijan not just with Formula One but Formula Two also and Pirelli have announced which tyre compounds they are bringing to the race weekend.

    Unlike 2019, this years Azerbaijan Grand Prix will see the teams use the softest tyres in Pirelli’s F1 range C3 (hard) tyre, C2 (medium) tyre and C5 (soft) tyres. This is one step softer than the last Azerbaijan race weekend.

    For the third round of the season for Formula Two, they will be using 18-inch tyres, yellow striped medium and purple striped super soft tyres, making this the first time the mediums have been used in this season.

    With the Formula One race being 51 laps and Formula Two’s sprint race being 21 laps and the feature race 29 laps, it will definitely be an interesting and crazy race as always in Baku! All eyes onto the weekend🤩

    This weekend we are expected sunshine so no rain at the moment, however things can always change👀 look below to see more information on Pirelli and Azerbaijan.

  • F2 Monaco- Day 3

    So on the last day for Formula Two we had Sprint Race 2 and the Feature race, heres how it went👀

    Sprint Race 2-

    Marcus Armstrong was meant to start P1 for the Sprint Race however he was forced to start from the pitlane due to not being able to join the starting grid… He then had to pull over with further issues. Petecof’s weekend is still going down hill as he had to retire from the race after clipping the barrier on the opening lap.

    The start was amazing, Piastri managed to nick P1 from Lawson however when the track started to dry Lawson knew his opportunities were lessening, however he managed an inside move at Rascasse which allowed him to scamper in front.

    Marino Sato and Christian Lungaard became the latest casualties of the Monaco circuit, Sato’s race ended early due to loosing his car at Turn 1, Lundgaard locked up and then ended up going into Mirebeau.

    The safety car then came out as Bent Viscall clipped the back of Beckmann’s car once the safety car went in, Lawson got a clean restart with only a minute left, he managed to pull an 8 second gap over Ticktum while Piastri held onto third.

    After the race it then got announced that Liam Lawson was disqualified and no longer took the win for the second sprint race, following an investigation after the race, the stewards fount that Lawson used a different throttle map at the race start which was a breach of technical regulations, Article 3.6.5. This now means Dan Ticktum got P1, Oscar Piastri P2 and Juri Vips P3.

    Feature Race-

    With drier conditions than the mornings race, it could mean Pourchaire enjoyed a dream start, he got a clean launch to pull away from Shwartzman who didn’t manage to challenge him.

    The front eight were all on the soft tyre as Shwartzman chased Pourchaire he managed to close the gap to under a second and within DRS range. Sprint Race winner 2 Dan Ticktum did have Juri Vips arriving in his rear view mirror, that was when Ticktum decided to get a move on and he managed to catch up with Piastri who was in P3. Carlin opted for the undercut and called Ticktum in for super softs which sent him back to P6, however the move didn’t work out as Piastri got called in the lap after and came out for P5 ahead of Ticktum.

    There was three VSC’s needed within the space of two laps, firstly for Marcus Armstrong as the DAMs driver went into the wall, then for Lirim Zendeli who also went into the wall. Then the third was for Ticktum as he braved a bold move on Piastri but ended up in the barrier as there was no room.

    With only six laps to go, Zhou was the only one who hadn’t pitted but also had 15 second gap over Pourchaire, but the ART driver was lighting up the time screens with purple sectors one after another. The championship leader eventually opted to head in at the end of Lap 37 returning in fifth behind Shwartzman.

    Pourchaire finished in P1 making him F2’s youngest ever race winner at 17 years old, we then had Piastri in P2 and P3 for Drugovich.

    What’s next?

    We now have two weeks until the next race weekend where we will be in Baku on June 6th-8th.

  • F2 Monaco- Day 1 & 2

    Wow what a long break that was from the first race! I know we had testing in April but even with that what a long time! Anyways i’m happy to see the F2 cars back on track and even more so in Monaco!🤩

    Day 1-

    First up we had free practice heres what happened! First of all there was three stoppages in the opening 20 minutes of the session, where Marino Sato came to a halt on track which brought out a red flag. The second stoppage was required after Gianluca Petecof’s Campos went up into smoke. Then the final stoppage was because Bent Viscaal managed to clip the wall so the VSC was required.

    The results from free practice was Shwartzman first with a 1:22.041, he was followed by Ticktum with a 1:22.564 and then he was followed by Vips who had a 1:22.628!

    Now onto Qualifying, they had to split the grid up into two qualifying groups because it is standard for Monaco.

    The 17 year old, Theo Pourchaire will start the feature race in pole position on Saturday afternoon making him the Formula Two’s youngest ever pole sitter in Monaco! In P2 is Shwartzman who topped qualifying group B with a 1:21.403, behind him is Piastri in P3 with a 1:21.443.

    Day 2-

    Now onto day 2 which is just made up of one sprint race and its a reverse grid of how the top 10 qualified, meaning Zhou will start P1 and let me tell you I think he was very happy with that as thats where he finished at the end of the 30 laps.

    Robert Shwartzman didn’t have a lucky day today as he pushed too hard and whacked the wall of Casino Square, which forced him to retire after attempting to get back out. Lundgaard got away brilliant at the beginning however that all came to a crashing hault when he started to have smoke come from the back of his car, which brought him to a stop with a yellow flag. Petecof doesn’t seem to be having a good weekend here in Monaco as he collided with the wall and stopped on the track which brought out a full safety car which could of potentially changed the entire race… There was then a fourth retirement by Marino Sato as he put his car into the wall.

    It ended up being a 1-2 podium for UNI-Virtuosi and they was joined by Williams test driver Roy Nissany in his first Formula 2 podium. Starting in P1 for tomorrows second Sprint Race is Marcus Armstrong after pulling off a last minute and risky move on Daruvala, Armstrong will be next to Liam Lawson as he is starting P2 tomorrow and then Oscar Piastri in P3…

    The second sprint race tomorrow will be starting at 7:20am (BST) and 8:20am (CEST) and for the feature race it will be 16:15pm (BST) and 17:15 (CEST)

  • Barcelona F2 Testing

    This weekend we have had the F2 cars back on track at Barcelona for some more testing, once again it was split into morning and afternoon sessions with a total of 18 hours of track time across the weekend.

    Day 1- A bit of a foggy start to the morning session, with teams letting the drivers out for an install lap. Campos shot out on track as soon as it was clear, followed by MP Motorsport however MP didn’t get to set a competitive time as Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala stopped at turn 1 which brought out the first red flag of the weekend. Following the first red flag there was then another as Piastri stopped at turn 3 but he did manage to set a good time overall. After having two cars back in the garage safely Lungaard headed out onto the circuit and posted the quickest time of the morning setting a time of 1:29.606. The morning session finished with Lundgaard at the top with a 1:29.594, followed by Drugovich with a 1:29.772, then followed Vips with a 1:29.988.

    Once the afternoon session got the green light MP were the first team to get back onto the track, with both drivers getting a fast run out of the way. Verschoor charged his way to the top of the table after his fifth lap and then was backed up by his teammate Zendeli. A little while later Zendeli lost control of his MP and managed to tag the barrier… There was then another red flag shortly after this as Nissany lost control at Turn 9 and touched the wall too. Lundgaard was the one to bump Verschoor down to P2 with a lap time of 1:29.827, Verschoor ended up with a 1:30.165 and was very closely followed by Theo Pourchaire with a 1:30.167.

    Day 2- The morning session of Day 2 was the opportune time for some Qualifying simulations, with fresh hard tyres on, the field quickly went out to get a feel for the circuit with Zendeli setting an early pace of 1:29.440. He was shortly knocked down the order after Boschung went two tenths quicker. Half way through the session you saw the teams switching to the mediums however their runs were halted as Nissany spun at Turn 3 and found himself stuck in gravel which brung out a red flag. The session ended with Verschoor on top with a 1:28.280 then followed by Ralph Boschung with a 1:28.474 and then Felipe Drugovich with a 1:28.544.

    The afternoon session is more based on the longer runs to gather data, so to start the session off, Petecof got things under way with a 1:30.684. There were three disruptions in this session with Deledda spinning at turns 12 and 1, and Shwartzman stopped at turn 3. Once things got restarted again the Charouz Racing System pair went first and second with Beckamnn having a 1:29.384 and Samaia with a 1:29.510. Verschoor then made it to P3 with a 1:29.951 and that finished up the second day.

    Day 3- The last day of testing wasn’t as bright as the second day, which led to us seeing some rain at the end of the first session. The field headed out at the earliest opportunity with them switching to their final set of mediums. Their was a brief stoppage which we saw HWA Racelab’s spun at the first turn which brought out a red flag. Action soon resumed, with Drugovich taking control, he was the first the driver to break the 1m 28s barrier for the first time in Barcelona with a 1:27.945. Lundgaard was next to follow, he took a qualifying simulation however he couldn’t nail all three sectors, he managed P2 with a 1:28.285. Lundgaard wasn’t at P2 for long as Piastri came out on fresh medium tyres and set a 1:28.105.

    The afternoon session got underway and the long runs soon started, the HWA Racelab duo set the benchmark times leading with 1:30.346 and 1:32.183. There was a brief stoppage in the opening hour of the session as Lawson touched the wall at Turn 5. He managed to get back out there but then came to halt between turns 8 and 9 with 15 minutes to go. There was a third red flag of the afternoon for Verschoor who stopped at turn 7. The top 3 for the end of the session were Viscaal with a 1:30.280, Nannini with a 1:30.346 and Sato with a 1:30.943.

    In my opinion I believe HiTech, MP Motorsport are strong and so is Lundgaard, all of them seemed to be consistent over the weekend whilst doing simulations and tests. I’m looking forward to the next race weekend and its in Monaco on the 22nd of May.

  • Day 3 Bahrain- F2

    What a weekend it has been in Formula Two, it feels so good to have it back on TV! On a Sunday we now have a feature race and let me tell you it did not disappoint..

    The three drivers on the podium were Guanyu Zhou, Dan Ticktum and Liam Lawson. It was touch and go whether Zhou would take the win or not but he managed to hold on to it making it his first Feature Race win.

    A safety car brought a stop to Lundgaard and Zhou’s fight for first after Roy Nissany was clipped by Shwartzman which forced him to retire, Shwartzman however didn’t need to retire but was handed a drive-through penalty.

    There was a second safety car after Gianluca Petecof retired, which shook up the order massively as Armstrong was leading with Piastri and Verschoor behind him, however Armstrong quickly dropped back after the restart as Verschoor took the lead on the softs.

    Zhou eventually took back the top spot after Verschoor couldn’t defend anymore. Verschoor then had to defend from Piastri however Piastri was more focused on defending Ticktum, which didn’t end well after they come together at Turn 2 which then led to Piastri spinning off and then out of the race, Ticktum got away unscathed.

    One person who massively impressed me over the weekend was Liam Lawson, he is very talented and one to watch out in the future for sure…

    Next up we have three day testing in April, then after that the second race weekend is in May and they head to Monte Carlo.

  • Day 2 Bahrain- F2

    Second day is done!✅ On a Saturday we have both sprint races.

    Sprint Race 1- First sprint race of the season and let me tell you it did not disappoint… Liam Lawson got away beautifully, he started P3 and finished P1 making his Formula 2 debut one to remember! Jehan Daruvala and David Beckmann completed the top three.

    One person that stood out to me was Robert Schwartzman, he didnt have much luck on Friday however he started P11 and finished P4 just missing out on a podium 😕.

    There was four retirements in total, that included Pourchaire, Armstrong, Boschung and Verschoor all different reasons however not a good start to the season, every point counts…

    Sprint Race 2- Now onto the second sprint race of the weekend… Once again another race with drama and amazing overtakes. Reigning Formula 3 champion Oscar Piastri took the win after overtaking Guanyu Zhou. However, Zhou fell to third after Lungaard made a last minute move, making it an all Alpine academy podium.

    One person who stood out to me this sprint race was Richard Verschoor who started 22nd and finished 5th! He was unlucky in the first sprint race with a DNF but he brought it back in the second!

    First lap battles- Unfortunately two drivers were out after turn 1 as they collided and they were Robert Shwartzman and Dan Ticktum, it ended up bringing out the first safety car of the race.

    The next collision was Zendeli and Lungaard, Zendeli was clipped by Lungaard and then suffered a puncture. However Lungaard suffered a 10 second time penalty which he served in the pits later on.

    Next up we have the feature race which is today and the starting grid is below :)