Junior Formula Series
That is why we went for the opposite strategy today, to use this performance on the track. We made it work for us and also the Safety Car helped us a lot
An impressive F2 Sprint victory for 18-year-old American Jak Crawford and a superb drive to 2nd in the Feature Race from fellow Red Bull Junior Ayumu Iwasa, the 21-year-old Japanese. These were high points of the F2 races in the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg.
Isack Hadjar, the 18-year-old Frenchman, put in a very impressive F2 Sprint Race drive cutting through after a difficult Qualifying to take 3rd.
WATCH THE F2 HIGHLIGHTS FROM AUSTRIA 2023
- F2 Sprint Race Highlights | 2023 Austrian Grand Prix
- F2 Feature Race Highlights | 2023 Austrian Grand Prix
Iwasa bounced back with great Sunday drive
“It was quite a tough weekend for me, even though I could finish the Feature Race in quite a good position.”
“We struggled quite a lot in Qualifying, with the track limits. The track limit was OK… just my mistake. Also, the car, our speed was not amazing, so we were feeling that it was quite a difficult session.”
“Then yesterday's Sprint Race was also quite difficult with the changes in track condition. I made a mistake with the team on the tyre selection. But already in this race, we felt we had quite good potential in the car with the long run.”
That is why we went for the opposite strategy today, to use this performance on the track. We made it work for us and also the Safety Car helped us a lot.”
“It was a really good end to the weekend. But there are some improvements to be made on my side and the team's side. The team had a pitstop mistake with Arthur (Leclerc) my teammate so I think we need to improve together, then we will perform well all the way from Qualifying.”
Crawford on top on Saturday
“It was a pretty good weekend I would say. Probably our best weekend so far I would say. We were quite good in Free Practice but that speed didn't really show in Qualifying though it was really close in Quali and we just missed a tiny bit of pace that would have put us up a few more positions.”
“Anyway, another top 10 position which is good for us and gave us Pole for the Sprint Race. It was wet and a really tough decision to make on the tyres.”
“We made the right decision, we knew it was going to dry out eventually, we just had to survive the opening laps. We did that and managed to pull a gap and were then able to maintain that lead and keep it stable throughout the race and get our first win.”
That is great, we've definitely been close to it and I am so happy that we finally got it.
“The Feature race was a bit of a different story. I had some contact at Turn 1, dropped a lot of places at the start, from 10th to 17th even though I had a really good start and was potentially going to be 6th or 7th so that really hurt our race.”
“So we were fighting hard to get back track position and I burnt up my tyres doing that. We had to bank on a Safety Car to score points and that happened. We went on a bit of a charge at the end of the race, gained 7 positions and ended up in the points.”
“So overall a good weekend but definitely in the Feature Race we were looking for more.”
Hadjar showed his pace in the Sprint
“We had a good start to the weekend, In Free Practice, we were running in the top 3, top 4, for a while and ended the session there. Pace was good, balance was good so it was looking promising for Qualifying.”
“Into Quali, I couldn't complete my first run due to an engine issue, sensor related. For the second run, I could only get on track when all the cars around were pushing. So I was out of sequence, I couldn't do a proper warm-up. I could only do 2 laps warm up not 3 and my lap was without a tow and was not a great lap… which got deleted anyway for track limits...”
“So Qualifying was really a disaster, we had so much more pace than P21. We had a car to fight for between top 5 and top 10. We couldn't fight for pole but we had something pretty decent.”
“Yesterday was… just going for a bold move. Most of the cars on the grid were on wet tyres, we saw on the radar that there was no more rain coming so we chose to go on the slicks.”
“We made a safe start, avoided the chaos and I overtook when I had the opportunity.”
Crossed the line 4th and due to the penalty got the podium, that was quite a nice one.
“Today I had a good start, started on the Prime, we lacked pace completely, the car just wasn't right, balance was just not good enough and we couldn't deliver a good race. Added to that we got really unlucky because we pitted just one lap before the Safety Car.”
“Other cars had the opportunity to get out ahead on new tyres. Still, I think I had a good weekend, two clean races. It was just unfortunate with the Safety Car today, at the wrong time. And obviously the technical issue in Quali.”
Enzo Fittipaldi had performance but not good fortune
“We started off the weekend at the Red Bull Ring very well, topping the Free Practice session,” stated the 21-year-old Brazilian. “Being fastest we were very confident going into Qualifying.”
“We ended up Qualifying P6, which was an OK result but obviously we knew that we could have done much better. We just got a bit unlucky with track limits… well not unlucky, I just think I over-pushed a bit in the first run. So I had to be a bit safe in the second run as I didn't have any lap on the board.”
“In the Sprint Race unfortunately we had a crash in the beginning when we were fighting for a podium spot. I also ended up getting a grid penalty for the next day so in the Feature Race today I had to start P9.”
“Today we had an amazing race. We were on the alternate strategy, I had a good start, was there running, P7, P6, overtaking the guys and then everyone boxed.”
We were leading the race, our pace was good, we were pulling away from the guys behind us.
“We just got very unlucky with the timing of the Virtual Safety car and the Safety Car. We were passing the pit entry and as we passed the pit entry it went Safety Car. So that is what cost us the win today which is very frustrating because we had the win in our hands.”
“We fell back to P10, P9 but were still able to fight our way back to P6. So we got some points but still obviously very frustrated because our chances were really high for the win today. We will bounce back in Silverstone.”
Dennis Hauger had race pace
“In Qualifying, the first set was pretty good, P6. But with the last set, we just couldn't get the pace right…something for me to really dig into and see what's happening,' explained the 20-year-old Norwegian. “But it's always the limitation it seems like for us at the moment.”
“Race 1 was okay, was a bit messy and started on wets so we had to pit. Came out last almost and managed to snatch P6 after penalties. Really good pace just starting a bit on the back foot after the pit.”
“The Feature was good in terms of pace, but so frustrating in terms of strategy.
We were fastest on track by far but got caught up with everything else.
I think I passed some cars about three times during one race…”
“So for sure, we have at least we have got back the race pace we have been trying to find. After some issues in the Feature race in Spain, we manage to find the problem.
“So looking ahead to Silverstone we need to fix Qualifying, and then we’ll see. Race pace was there so we need that Quali to make the weekend easier.”
Zane Maloney looking ahead to Silverstone
“It was a difficult weekend,” stated the 19-year-old Barbadian. “Qualifying didn’t go our way, but the positive is we learnt a lot just from that session for the future.”
“Race 1 we started on wets which turned out to be the wrong tire for the race, I was able to get up to P3 but then the slicks were a lot faster. The pace was really good once we got on the slicks.”
“Race 2 was going well with a net P7 until the Safety Car came out, which allowed everyone on the alternative strategy to get a free pit stop.”
“Just an unlucky weekend but I’m looking forward to moving things forward in Silverstone.”
Next Round Silverstone July 8/9
Formula 1 YouTube Channel - Replays
- F2 Sprint Race Highlights | 2023 Austrian Grand Prix
- F2 Feature Race Highlights | 2023 Austrian Grand Prix
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