Dennis Hauger tok sin første pallplass i Formel 2 på Imola i helgen. I hovedløpet startet han i femte startposisjon, men ble påkjørt allerede i starten. Les mer i denne pressemeldingen fra Red Bull Junior Team.
A very impressive 1-2 in Imola F2 Qualifying for Jüri Vips and Ayumu Iwasa was followed up by an excellent podium in the Sprint Race by Jehan Daruvala and Dennis Hauger.
Sunday did not match up to that promise with Iwasa doing best with 5th after a troubled pit stop.
Daruvala second on Saturday
“I think overall this weekend we had pretty good pace,” stated the 23-year-old Indian. “In Qualifying we had really good pace, I didn’t quite put the middle sector together and Qualified 8th. It wasn’t a true show of the pace we had.”
“Race 1 was good, a podium with P2, some good points.”
“In the Feature Race we were very very unlucky with Safety Cars and timings, Pit Lane closing and so on. I was the fastest in both stints and yet in the end we finished 9th. I was clearly the quickest car on Prime and again when we put the Options on I was really really quick.”
“The thing is, we were really fast, I closed the overall gap to the championship leader even though things didn’t go quite to plan. All in all not a bad weekend but not really that great.”
Hauger steps up
“Overall we had better pace this weekend,” explained the 19-year-old Norwegian. “I am feeling more at home with the car. In the end we were in a position to fight for the win I think if we didn’t have the problem at the start, and getting pushed on the grass, we were on the right strategy and pace was good in the Sprint Race with room for improvement.”
“We came into the Feature Race confident so it was a real shame, got turned into at the start and lost a lot of potential points. It’s annoying we get this unlucky stuff. But pace is better and hopefully our luck will turn around at the next round.”
Iwasa fast all weekend
“Free Practice was quite a bad session for me because I couldn’t do a complete lap,” stated the 20-year-old Japanese. «Also I was missing some speed and honestly I was a bit nervous but I could see some positive points from the data.”
“I could improve in Quali and had a good session, put in a good lap at the end for P2. The car was very very good and gave me good confidence. Very positive. It was my first time to drive with the rain tyre in F2 but I managed to adjust to it.”
“In the Sprint Race I didn’t have a good pace from the beginning and I also made a big mistake at the start and I think I lost 4 positions. I didn’t have enough speed and lost another position.”
“But after that I found a good pace but it is difficult to overtake on this track. Always a DRS train. But the car was quick and my driving came good during the race. So I improved after the beginning.”
“In the Feature Race I made a mistake at the start and was overtaken by 2 cars. Then I had a very very good pace with the Super Soft, even though I have never used it before in F2. So that was very positive.”
“My team went for a double pit stop under the Safety Car. My car was second and we had a problem with the rear tyre and I think I lost about 7 seconds. That left me P8 or 9.”
“It is a shame, otherwise I could have made P2 or 3 because I had very good pace again on the Medium.”
“But I have a lot of positive things, in the car and my driving as well, certainly improving both. So that and the good data we had from the Barcelona test should make for a good weekend when we go back there. Keep focused and do my best.”
Liam Lawson frustrated
“Qualifying was a little bit frustrating, disappointing, the car was actually really fast, especially in wet conditions,” stated the 20-year-old New Zealander. “When we went out for our second run the track was quite dry in places. And because the tyres are obviously extremely soft it was really one lap I had to put it together. I got a little bit unlucky with traffic and yellow flags and I didn’t get a proper lap in. That’s why we qualified 14th.”
“Yesterday, I moved forwards as much as I could I think in the Sprint Race, a bit hard to overtake here, so was pretty happy with P8. I definitely felt that the car was fast enough to be racing at the front, it’s just hard to overtake.”
“Today, had a really good start, went for a bit of a gamble on the strategy, and just basically got really unlucky with the Safety Car early on in the race when everyone boxed and we didn’t get one in.”
“Then there was the crash as well, something in the steering broke when I was coming up the hill and basically I just went straight, I couldn’t turn the car and hit the wall.”
“A bit disappointing but the positives are still there, the car is fast and if we get a little bit of luck and put everything together we will be on it.”
Vips to change
“I haven’t had many worse days is my career,” admitted the 21-year-old Estonian frankly. “I won’t say it’s a day to forget, it’s a day to learn from and change my approach.”
“I’ve got nothing to complain about, not reliability, nothing, the car is great. I have just thrown away a lot of points.”
“I have to change my approach to the Feature Race especially. It seems that the people who just keep on track and keep going end up with a good number of points.”
“Yes we were fast this weekend, pole and fastest lap in the Sprint Race. I got tapped early on, the steering wheel knocked out of my hands and triggered the pit limiter so lost a lot of time there.”
“A big lesson for me today.”
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