Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Sprint Race

  • F2 Bahrain- Day 2&3

    F2 Bahrain- Day 2&3

    Day 2-

    Trident had only took their first F2 podium in the 2021 season, and hadn’t stood on the top step since 2016 GP2 campaign, but new recruit Verschoor had upped the chances by starting P2.

    Drugovich tumbled down the timesheets to sixth as Ralph Boschung but his Campos in P2 after starting P6. The action was brought to a half as a Safety Car come out due to Marcus Armstrong being tagged by Jake Hughes. The Van Amersfoort driver was handed a 10 second time penalty.

    Verschoor aced the restart as he pulled himself out of the DRS range, behind him Pourchaire didn’t have much luck as he was forced to enter the pits and retire from 5th.

    Daruvala had been waiting to make a move on Boschung for 2nd and managed to stick ahead before VSC came out, due to Hughes coming to a stop on the gravel. Clement Novalak had made contact with the British driver and the MP Motorsport driver was handed a 10s time penalty.

    PositionDriverTeamPoints
    1Richard VerschoorMP Motorsport10
    2Jehan DaruvalaPREMA Racing8
    3Liam LawsonCarlin6
    4Ralph BoschungCampos Racing5
    5Felipe DrugovichMP Motorsport4
    Top 5 finishers

    Day 3-

    Vips took the chance to take the lead of the race, as the front row had horrible starts with Boschung added in there as well. THe ones on the alternate strategy all benefited off the line with Williams, Armstrong, Caldwell and Iwasa gaining multiple positions.

    The first safety car arrived three laps in as Frederick Vesti was spun to a stop. The pit stops then started, and Vips luck turned as he had a slow pit stop and put him down to 12th. This meant that Doohan basically got handed the lead- although he got through the pit stop unscathed he got tangled up with Pourchaire on his return to the track and suffered damage to his front wing meaning he had to pit again.

    A five car tussle for 10th resulted in another Safety car, as Enzo Fittipaldi tagged Richard Verschoor making him stop. A flurry of activity in the pit lane led to two further retirements as Hauger and Williams both lost a tyre during their teams attempt to get them back out on track.

    PositionDriverTeamPoints
    1Theo PourchaireART Grand Prix25
    2Liam LawsonCarlin18
    3Juri VipsHiTech Grand Prix15
    4Ralph BoschungCampos Racing12
    5Marcus ArmstrongHiTech Grand Prix10
    Top 5 finishers

    F2 hasn’t got long to wait till more action on track, they will be returning next weekend for the second round of the season in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia!

  • F3 Bahrain- Day 2 & 3

    F3 Bahrain- Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    As the red light went out, O’Sullivan was automatically having to defend from Bearman on the run into the first corner. However further back in the pack, Roman Stanek and pole sitter for the Feature race- Franco Colapinto collided and were forced to pit for repairs.

    Arthur Leclerc was the standout mover as he found himself up in 9th following the opening laps after starting 13th.

    There was a 3 way battle between the ART Grand Prix team-mates but it was Saucy and Martins who collided at Turn 1 fighting for P8, both had to return to the pitlane but both were forced to retire.

    Moments after this, Bearman made his overtake on O’Sullivan stick through Turn 4. Bearman’s team mate Leclerc still continued his charge as he progressed into 7th.

    Lap 10 saw Hadjar move up into third as he went past Smolyar. O’ Sullivan’s pace started to drop he fell into a pack of drivers, which ended with Maloney and Hadjar moving past the Williams Academy driver.

    Ollie Bearman crossed the line in P1 but due to a 5 second time penalty it meant that he was demoted to P2, and Isack Hadjar took the first win of the year!

    PositonDriverTeamPoints
    1Isack HadjarHiTech Grand Prix10
    2Ollie BearmanPREMA Racing9
    3Alexander SmolyarMP Motorsport8
    4Zane MaloneyTrident8
    5Arthur LeclercPREMA Racing6
    Top 5 finishers.

    Day 3-

    Even though he qualifying result was a shock, it was set to be a harder task for Colapinto to hold onto the victory. In the opening stages of the race, the Argentine looked very comfortable in the lead, however its never smooth sailing in F3 as he had to deal with a safety car restart, which was required after Pizzi and Maloney coming to a stop on the circuit on the opening lap due to a bit of contact.

    Caio Collet was a victim of the first lap drama, as he broke his front suspension while driving over a kerb at Turn 7, as he tried to avoid potential contact with rivals. At the Safety Car restart, Martins overtook Stanek for P2 but the Trident driver would be soon eliminated as he made contact with Alex Smolyar.

    Juan Manuel Correa appeared to have rapid pace as he moved into the top three after overtaking Smolyar, with the latter also soon found himself to be behind Leclerc who was on the mission.

    It was Victor Martins who took the win, with Leclerc making up 11 positions to finish 2nd!

    PositionDriverTeamPoints
    1Victor MartinsART Grand Prix25
    2Arthur LeclercPREMA Racing18
    3Gregiore SaucyART Grand Prix15
    4Juan Manuel CorreaART Grand Prix12
    5Franco ColapintoVan Amersfoort Racing10
    Top 5 finishers.

    F3 will be back in just over a month, 22nd to 24th of April for the second round in Imola, Italy!

  • Sprint Races confirmed

    The F1 commission has approved plans after talks with all key stakeholders including governing bodies at the FIA and all the teams, to run the F1 Sprint format at three Grand Prix weekends in 2022, those being at Imola, Austria and Brazil.

    F1 Sprint was introduced last year which involved a 100km dash with each lasting between 25-30 minutes, the result then determines the grid for the weekends main event on Sunday.

    With this being decided, the points system has been changed, with now the top eight driver scoring points, as before it was just the top 3 received points. The driver who finishes P1 will now receive 8 points, down to one point for the driver in 8th.

    As well as the points change, it has also been decided that the driver who sets the fastest time in qualifying, will be attributed ‘pole position’, last year it was the driver who won the Sprint. Qualifying will continue to determine the grid for Saturdays Sprint, with the result of the Sprint forming the line-up for Sundays Grand Prix.

    “Following a review of the three Sprint events that took place in 2021 and a recognition by all that the format created positive benefits for the sport, three Sprint events were proposed for 2022, acknowledging this as a sensible number in light of the pressures already on the teams for this season with the introduction of major changes to the regulations,” an FIA statement said. “The Commission unanimously approved the three Sprint events for the coming season, incorporating a number of updates to the format based on the feedback of fans, media and teams.”

    My Opinion-

    I’m glad they have chose new tracks for the sprint race and keeping Brazil, we all saw the masterclass in Brazil, but having Imola and Austria have a sprint race could potentially pay of, more Austria then Imola. But i’m not ruling anything out between the two new ones until they happen!

    At first when I saw the new points I was like oh no there isn’t going to be much action between top 5 but… this could change things with people starting anywhere from 6th to 14th to try and score points, we all saw how these points from the sprint race meant a lot to the top teams, so now with more points up for grabs they will mean a lot more for more teams.

    And finally, awarding the driver with pole position on the Friday is the right thing to do, as lots of fans felt like it should be awarded for qualifying and not the sprint, which I make them right.

  • Overview F2 2021

    With the season over and the year coming to an end let’s take a look back of the Formula 2 2021 Championship and see who were our winners across the weekend, how many retirements we had and my opinion on who is the driver of the weekend!

    Sakhir–

    Bahrain saw the rookies Liam Lawson win the first Sprint Race and Oscar Piastri win the second Sprint Race with Guanyu Zhou winning the Feature Race.

    Lots of drama over the weekend which included some daring moves where people got away with where as others race ending early.

    Over the course of the weekend my driver of the weekend is Liam Lawson, his first race weekend in F2, he qualified P8 then went to win the first Sprint, the second one wasn’t as good which saw him score no points and then the Feature Race he finished 3rd, after the weekend he walked away in P2 in the standings.

    Monte Carlo-

    The lovely Monaco saw Zhou win the first sprint race, Ticktum win the second and Pourchaire win the feature race.

    Pourchaire didn’t just win the feature race, his weekend started when he got pole position. But the tight walls of Monaco wasn’t as kind to some we saw 4 retirements in the first Sprint Race. The second saw 7 retire. Then the Feature Race saw 4 retire.

    My driver of the weekend is… Oscar, even though he didn’t win and he didn’t need to he still got on the podium twice and managed to put himself in a good position for the second sprint race.

    Baku-

    We went back to Baku for the third round of the season in which we saw, Shwartzman take the first Sprint Race win, and then Juri Vips take BOTH Sprint Race 2 and Feature Race wins.

    Baku brought the drama for everyone but HiTech, the team managed to stay away from it all. There was 4 retirements in SR1. 6 in SR2 and 3 in the feature race.

    My driver of the weekend got picked very quickly because he managed to win two races. Its Juri Vips, I feel like this was his best weekend in F2 this year and he fully deserved the wins he got.

    Silverstone-

    The 3 winners at Silverstone were: Robert Shwartzman SR1, Richard Verschoor SR2 and Guanyu Zhou for the Feature Race.

    Silverstone managed to catch quite a few of the drivers out but not as many as the previous races we have had as we saw 5 retire in SR1. 3 in SR2 and none in the Feature Race.

    Ah I feel like there is two drivers of the weekend, one being Richard Verschoor he deserved his win in the sprint race, and the other being Dan Ticktum he didn’t win but he did manage to get on the podium twice which Oscar done back in Monaco.

    Monza-

    Round 5 and our winners at Monza were: Théo Pourchaire SR1, Jehan Daruvala SR2 and Oscar Piastri Feature Race.

    Monza wasn’t as kinda as Silverstone was we had 7 retire in SP1. Only 2 in SP2, and 6 in the Feature Race.

    I think my driver of the weekend would be, Guanyu Zhou he finished 2nd in Sprint Race 1 and the feature race. And he still managed to grab a point in the second feature race.

    Sochi-

    Well, I think we will all remember Sochi for a very long time and not for the good reasons. When we finally did get racing we only had 2 out of the 3 races. The first and only sprint race won by Dan Ticktum and the Feature Race winner were we saw Oscar Piastri take back to back feature race wins.

    Even though we had two races, we still had retirements 4 in Sprint Race 1 and 4 in the Feature Race.

    Dan Ticktum would be my driver of the weekend being the first out of all the drivers, he obviously finished 1st in the first race and then 5th in the feature race so he managed a good lot of points considering the conditions they had to deal with on the Saturday.

    Jeddah-

    A new track for the drivers but it was Marcus Armstrong who took the first Sprint Race win, and Oscar Piastri taking both the second Sprint Race win and the Feature Race win.

    With it being a new track to all drivers its to be expected that we have retirements over the weekend, 4 drivers retired in Sprint Race 1, 7 in Sprint Race 2 and 2 in the Feature Race.

    This is probably the most easiest choice i’ve had to make in a while, Oscar Piastri would be my driver of the weekend, I think the Jeddah weekend showed people how talented he really is (if they already didn’t know). He won two races, the latter making it 3 back to back to back feature race wins, he stuck it on pole as usual and just done everything right this weekend.

    Yas Island-

    The weekend where we saw our 2021 Champion crowned! But the race winners were: Jehan Daruvala SR1, Guanyu Zhou SR2 and Oscar Piastri won the final Feature Race of the season.

    The first Sprint Race was quite calm considering Formula 2! We only had two retirements. We then had a crazy second Sprint Race where we had four retire (one being the champ himself) and the Feature Race we had three retirements.

    My driver of the weekend would be, Oscar again and not just cause he got crowned the champion, but because he deserved it, the first Sprint Race saw him battle his own team-mate for the championship in the race which decided it all and Shwartzman was not going to let him have it so easy.

    Overall-

    I mean what a year! So many rookies joining us and them winning/ being on the podium/ scoring points, but also the drivers who have been with us longer, we have definitely been blessed with a fantastic set of races this year. I already can’t wait for next season to start and we haven’t even had all the announcements yet! Hopefully next year will be just as good.

  • F2 Abu Dhabi- Day 2 & 3

    Our final race days for Formula 2 are over unfortunatley but that didn’t mean they weren’t crazy! Lets take a look…

    Day 2-

    Sprint Race 1-

    Well, Daruvala got a brilliant launch as soon as the lights went out, taking the lead into Turn 1, however his team-mate didn’t get as good of a start, it saw Dan Ticktum dropping down the field.

    Piastri was looking to wrap up his title during this race, he managed to get up to 6th form 10th at the start, in doing this he was behind his team-mate who was also battling for the championship.

    Both Prema’s knew what they had to do, they both climbed up the field, after Shwartzman built up a gap between him and Piastri, he then took the final podium place from Lawson.

    But that didn’t last long as Piastri responded and overtook Lawson on the following lap and was back in the tracks of Shwartzman. Both Prema’s looked happy in third and fourth until Piastri spotted a late opportunity and decided to take it at Turn 9 in which the Australian took the final podium spot.

    The top 10 were: P1: Daruvala, P2: Drugovich, P3: Piastri, P4: Shwartzman, P5: Lawson, P6: Ticktum, P7: Pourchaire, P8: Zhou, P9: Boschung, P10: Armstrong.

    With Oscar finishing 3rd this saw him wrap up the title, making him a 3 time champion in 3 years. With Armstrong finishing 10th this saw him on pole for sprint race 2.

    Sprint Race 2-

    A very crazy start for the second sprint of the day, but not for the race leader, Marcus Armstrong zoomed off into the distant leaving the rest of the field to battle it out.

    Boschung and Zhou who was in 2nd and 3rd held their positions well, but everyone behind them wanted action, the newly corwned champ sent his Prema down the outside but a four car wide brawl saw him almost get pushed into the wall…

    Even though he missed the wall, the Aussie came away with minor damage as he banged wheels with Lawson, which saw him drop down to 13th where as the Hitech went to 8th, Piastri was then found to be at fault and handed a 5sec time penalty.

    The grid was given time to breath and cool down as a safety car appeared due to contact between Deledda and Caldwell at Turn 9, the HWA was forced to retire but Caldwell carried on.

    Once the racing resumed Piastri started his charge in which he gained two spots from Nissany and Vips. That didn’t last long as Vips and Nissany came back at Piastri which saw the trio clip wheel, and only Nissany survived, this brought out another safety car as Vips and Piastri climbed out of their cars.

    Before the safety car came out Zhou managed to get ahead of Boschung, but once the safety car went away, Zhou was promoted to first as Armstrong then had problems with the car which saw him pull over.

    The top 10 is as follows: P1: Zhou, P2: Shwartzman, P3: Boschung, P4: Ticktum, P5: Drugovich, P6: Lawson, P7: Daruvala, P8: Doohan, P9: Pourchaire, P10: Viscaal.

    Day 3-

    Piastri wanted this race to be one to remember as it is his last in F2, and that he did he got away superbly.

    Doohan starting P2, was the only one of the mediums, he was the only one with them out of the top 5 so he managed to cling on to P2 for three corners of wheel-to-wheel racing but Zhou was not giving up, the MP rookie clipped the curb in which he picked up a chunk of marble and went spinning off into the barriers.

    Racing resumed when the safety car went in, the pit-stops started going on as Lawson was the first to ditch the super-softs on lap 7 which saw him back on the grid in 20th.

    The crossover between prime and the alternate startegies started to arrive with seven laps to go, Armstrong headed in to collect the super-softs and began to pick the drivers with the mediums, he took places off Boschung and Lawson within a lap.

    The full top 10 as follows: P1: Piastri, P2: Zhou, P3: Drugovich, P4: Pourchaire, P5: Shwartzman, P6: Ticktum, P7: Armstrong, P8: Vips, P9: Boschung and P10: Verschoor.

    That concludes the 2021 Formula 2 season now, with Piastri taking the championship, his team-mate coming home in 2nd and Guanyu Zhou in 3rd who will be graduating to Formula 1 next year!

    With the teams championship, Prema wrapped it up last weekend in Jeddah, Uni-Virtuosi managed to pinch 2nd from Carlin, which Carlin then ended up 3rd.

  • Oscar Piastri F2 2021 Champion

    WOW! We all knew it was coming but OSCAR PIASTRI IS FORMULA 2 2021 CHAMPION!

    Oscar now has THREE back to back titles, with his first being in 2019 Formula Renault Champion, 2020 Formula Three Champion and now 2021 Formula Two Champion

    What a drive from Oscar, he could of just left it in the points but noo, Oscar wanted to be on the podium which I make him right!

    Oscars had a brilliant year so far with 5 pole positions and 5 wins so far, it’s like he wants to keep on going! We still have two races left, a sprint race later today and a feature race tomorrow where Oscar is on pole!

    My Opinion-

    Wow, Oscar is just unstoppable, he fully deserves this championship! His year has been amazing it’s gutting to see that he won’t have a seat next year as he does deserve it, hopefully we see him with a seat in 2023.

  • F2 Jeddah- Recap Day 2 & 3

    This now concludes round 7 of 2021, lets take a look at the two Sprint Races and the Feature Race in Saudi Arabia.

    Day 2-

    Sprint Race 1- Lawson and Armstrong lined up together on the front row which saw them go wheel to wheel heading into the first turn but it was Marcus Armstrong who led the the Sprint Race.

    We got to Turn 4 where we had a Safety Car as a collision ended Samaia and Sato’s race which was caused by Olli Caldwell tagging Samaia’s Charouz, Caldwell was then handed a 10 second time penalty for this collision, so not the best start for Caldwells first weekend in F2.

    By the end of Lap 3, the safety car headed into the pits but there was further drama going on as Championship challenger Zhou spun and found himself facing the wrong way which he then dropped to back of the grid.

    During this chaos Boschung pulled a move on Vips for P3 but this didn’t stop Vips as he came for Boschung to get back the final podium place. Boschung then started to loose speed and started to tumble down the order. The next retirement was Pourchaire as he lost control at Turn 22 and hit the wall which brought out a second safety car.

    The top 10 of the Sprint Race was: P1: Armstrong, P2: Lawson, P3: Vips, P4: Drugovich, P5: Daruvala, P6: Shwartzman, P7: Lundgaard, P8: Ticktum, P9: Piastri and P10: Viscaal. However Daruvala got a penalty which was added on at the end of the race which saw him finish P10, so he starts the second Sprint Race on pole position.

    Sprint Race 2:

    Daruvala knew what he had to do as soon as the lights went out, he kept P1 going into the first turn. However Trident driver, Viscaal was unable to hold onto 2nd and dropped two places behind Piastri and Lundgaard.

    Armstrong was looking to build on from his brilliant sprint race earlier on in the day, unfortunately it didn’t turn out that way, as he was an innocent bystander in a four car crunch which saw F2 newbie Clement Novalak, Alessio Deledda and Samaia all getting caught up in the collision and forced to finish their race there.

    After the Safety Car went in Piastri was very close to Daruvala. But the action behind them was still going on with Drugovich stealing P7 away from Vips. Vips wasn’t ready to give up that spot as he started to re claim the position but the Estonian driver got too close to the back of the Virtuosi car which saw his front wing be ripped off and become the fifth retirement of the race.

    Daruvala then got another five second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, as well as Lungaard handed the same punishment too. This didn’t stop Piastri though, he wanted to do this on track and not wait till the end of the race, and he did he took the lead of the race coming out of Turn 1 and built up a 1.5s gap.

    The race ended under the Safety Car due to Liam Lawson loosing the rear of his HiTech at Turn 13 where he spun into the barriers with two laps left, meaning the top 3 finishers from the first sprint race did not finish the second sprint.

    The top 10 of the Sprint Race 2 was: P1: Piastri, P2: Viscaal, P3: Shwartzman, P4: Ticktum, P5: Doohan, P6: Pourchaire, P7: Fittipaldi, P8: Zhou, P9: Boschung and P10: Drugovich. With fastest lap going to Piastri.

    Day 3-

    Well, where do we even start, first of all the race was delayed due to replacing the concrete barrier at Turn 13 in which we saw Liam Lawson have a crash there in Sprint Race 2.

    Once we got going finally, the racing didn’t continue for long, as Theo Pourchaire stalled on the grid which led to a big accident involving himself and Enzo Fittipaldi which saw the race be red-flagged.

    Because of the first delay and then the red flag we finally went racing again but only 20 minutes + 1 lap, 10 minutes in we got a safety car which saw quite a few drivers take their mandatory pit stop including championship leader Oscar Piastri, but because of the crash which involved Olli Caldwell and Guilherme Samai. The race then got red-flagged and then decided the race would not continue.

    So half points would be awarded and they would take the grid positions from lap 5, which saw Oscar Piastri in 1st, Rober Shwartzman in 2nd and Ralph Boschung in 3rd.

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

    Oscar Piastri is still leading the championship with a gap of 51.5 points to his team-mate Shwartzman, we then have Guanyu Zhou in 3rd and Dan Ticktum in 4th. Prema have now won the teams championship for the second year in a row!

    The main thing we can take away from this weekend in F2 is that Theo Pourchaire and Enzo Fittipaldi are okay, even though Fittipaldi does have some injuries i’m looking forward to them returning to the race track.

  • 2022 Calendar set for 23 races

    So with only 7 races left of this season, the talks for next season has started on how it will look calendar wise.

    For 2022 they are expecting and wanting to run a 23 race calendar, starting in mid March and finishing in mid November. Where as currently this season started end of March and finishing in mid December.

    Even though Covid-19 has changed the calendar quite a bit this year for the second year in the row, this years championship is still set for its longest ever season, with 22 races on the calendar and 15 already completed, F1 wants to go one better next year.

    The 2022 Calendar is set to revealed later this month. Some races have already confirmed when they will be holding their event, as newcomers Miami have confirmed the weekend of 6-8 May for their first F1 Race.

    “I can anticipate that, for sure, the calendar will be done with 23 races,” said Domenicali in an interview with Sky Sports “Of course we will be very respectful towards the Covid regulations issued around the world from the different governments. But that is our aim that F1 can give this sign of hope and to go to normal things to enjoy.”

    “The idea is to make sure there is the right rhythm to the calendar,” he said. “There are of course considerations related to periods to make sure logistically the flow has to be right. “One thing I can tell you, without discovering too many things is that next year the season will start in the middle of March and will finish in the middle of November.”

    This year F1 introduced the Sprint format, in three different weekends, the first being at Silverstone, the second in Monza and the third which is yet to come in Brazil. In Stefano Domenicali’s interview he has said that: “I can say we will not go everywhere with the Sprint format. It is something we want to keep for one third of the races more or less and to connect with a certain different way of giving rewards and points and to connect with specific circuits that as you know would make the difference.”

    So its looking roughly like about 7/8 race weekends next year with the Sprint format, after positive feedback from promoters.

    My Opinion-

    I’m 50/50 on the Sprint format, it gives you three full days of action which I and everyone loves but its not the traditional F1. Being at the first weekend they trialled it at was good, the atmosphere was amazing all weekend, and it was so busy, it definitely attracted more people to come for the full weekend!

    But with them adding it to 7/8 races next year i’m a bit sceptical about, I think personally they need to try it at either 3 different tracks next year, to see how it goes their. Or do it at Silverstone and Monza, then either one/two completely new ones as-well.

  • 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 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 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)

  • 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 :)