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F2 - The FIA Formula 2 Championship is back in Spain

11.05.17

Formula 2 - 2017 Race of Barcelona - Preview

F2, Formula 2, FIA, Race of Spain, motorsport

Friday
Free Practice: 12.00 – 12.45
Qualifying session: 15.55 – 16.25
Press conference: 18.00

Saturday
Feature race: 15.40 (37 laps)
Press conference: 17.00

Sunday
Sprint race: 10.35 (26 laps)
Press conference: 11.40

Note: The FIA F2 press conference take place in the F1 press conference room.

Season Stats
18
 Most laps led in Round 1 (Nato)
5 Number of podium finishers in Round 1 (Leclerc, Ghiotto, Markelov, Rowland, Nato)
4 Number of teams that have achieved a podium in Round 1 (PREMA Racing, RUSSIAN TIME, DAMS, Pertamina Arden)
8 Points difference between Leclerc and Markelov in the Drivers’ standings

Warm Up // Johnny Cecotto – Rapax
“We have a good car in Barcelona, and in testing we were very quick. It’s a wonderful circuit because you have high speed, medium speed, slow speed, so you have the whole palate in one place. It’s quite difficult because there is a lot of high speed at the start of the lap, so you really have to be ready with the front tyres, but then also be not too aggressive in the warm up so you’ve still got rear tyres in the last sector, which is really important. It’s a tricky track but it’s really nice to drive, even though it’s very technical.

“The trick is really to manage your tyres, so you can attack in the first sector but have some tyres left for the last sector, and it’s not easy: we do a lot of testing there but it’s always 15 or 20 degrees lower than when we race, so you arrive there and think you know everything about the circuit, but actually you know nothing! It starts all over again, so you just have to empty your mind and try to focus on the differences, not on the things you know from experience: if you are too focussed on what you experienced before then you lose out on the reaction you need.

“Many of the corners you don’t see the apex or the exit, they are very blind and it makes it very tricky, so you have to be really precise to hit the lines. There are several things to know, like how you have to adapt if it’s a performance run or a long run because there are quite different lines from one to the other: you can gain a lot of time in a corner in qualy but if you do that for 3 or 4 laps in the race then you’ll just kill the tyres, so you have to change your driving style a lot. For some reason Barcelona never worked out for me for a while, even though I was always quick in parts, but then I won the race from P16 so I hope I know the magic trick now!”