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F2 - All you need to know about the 6th round of the season

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13.07.17

F2 -  2017 Race of Silverstone - Preview

Round 6 Timetable

Data (GMT)

Thursday
Free Practice: 15.30 – 16.15

Friday

Qualifying session: 15.15 – 15.45
Press conference: 17.00

Saturday
Driver’s Parade: 11.55 – 12.15

Feature race: 15.00 (29 laps)
Press conference: 16.25

Sunday
Sprint race: 9.20 (21 laps)
Press conference: 10.30

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

 

Season Stats
49 
Points difference in the Drivers’ standings between Charles Leclerc and Oliver Rowland

48 Points available in a Perfect Weekend (Pole, 2x Wins, 2x Fastest Laps)

Poles out of 5 this season – Charles Leclerc

Number of race winners in the first 5 races (Leclerc x4, Markelov x2, Matsushita, Rowland, De Vries, Nato)

12 Number of podium finishers in the first 5 races (Leclerc x6, Rowland x5, Latifi x4, Markelov x3, Ghiotto x2, De Vries x2, Nato x2, Matsushita x2, Cecotto, Albon, Malja, Fuoco)

 

Warm Up // Artem Markelov – RUSSIAN TIME   

“Silverstone is not my favourite circuit, but I don’t hate it – it seems just like a normal circuit to me. What you have to do to do well there is concentrate, on every lap, on not making mistakes – Silverstone is mostly fast corners, and if you do one mistake you’ll be in a lot of trouble, like my old teammate Mitch Evans! You always need to keep a rhythm going forward to get a good lap.

“Actually it is the home race for my team, and I think it would be easy for them to make some set ups in the car with the experience they have in Silverstone. I’ve raced there 3 times, and I haven’t had any podiums – I was close at one point but I had a problem with the car and I had to pit for a long stop and that was the end of that one – but I hope that we can carry some momentum from the win in Austria. And the main thing I will need to do to get a podium there, is to kick some ass!”

 

The Stakes        
The FIA Formula 2 Championship arrives this week in Silverstone, Great Britain, for the second race of a back to back sequence with last week’s event in Spielberg, Austria, and the contrast could not be greater: where Austria was short, tight and undulating Silverstone is long, fast and flat as a pancake owing to its former career as a military airbase. The two races are both firm favourites with the fans as well as the drivers, who will look to be as perfect as possible on the sweeping bends around the famous circuit.

Round 5 saw Charles Leclerc (PREMA Racing) hold on from pole against a late charge from Nicholas Latifi (DAMS), who overtook Antonio Fuoco (PREMA Racing) in the closing laps for P2 in the feature race to extend his lead in the drivers’ championship, ahead of Oliver Rowland (DAMS) and Artem Markelov (RUSSIAN TIME), with the Russian closing in on the Briton with a win in the sprint race ahead of returnee Alexander Albon and Rowland.

In the teams’ championship two podiums in the feature race saw PREMA Racing join DAMS at the top of the table, with both teams just 9 points ahead of RUSSIAN TIME. All ten teams have brought home multiple points finishes and will be looking to add to their total on the fast, flowing circuit at the second of three races on the calendar this month.

 

Mario Isola, Head of Car Racing:

“The nature of Silverstone puts high demands upon the tyres, and this is reflected in the compounds we have nominated for this weekend, which are the same as last year. In Formula 2, supplying the hard and soft tyres will create a significant difference between the two compounds. The soft will provide the performance in qualifying but will need to be managed during the race.” 

Noteworthy

·       Callum Ilott will race with Trident in Silverstone, in car #17.

·       At least one DAMS driver has been featured on the podium in nine out of the ten races so far this season. The only exception was the Monaco Sprint Race.

·       Championship leader Charles Leclerc has failed to finish 3 races: both Monaco races, and the Spielberg Sprint Race.

·          Robert Visoiu (Campos Racing) has received a 3 grid places penalty for Round 6 Feature Race for causing a collision with Nyck De Vries (Rapax) during Round 5 Sprint Race.

·       Artem Markelov has failed to score points in one race: the Barcelona Sprint Race. RUSSIAN TIME teammate Luca Ghiotto is the second most consistent point scorer, missing out twice (Baku Feature Race and Spielberg Feature Race).

·       RUSSIAN TIME remain the only team to have scored in every race: DAMS are the second most consistent scorers, missing points once (Monaco Sprint Race).

·       Despite this, PREMA and DAMS have the highest average points per round on 34.8 (17.4 per race) – RUSSIAN TIME’s average is 33 (16.5 per race).

·       The Championship’s official website can be found here: www.fiaformula2.com

Most Improved

Antonio Fuoco (PREMA Racing): +4 Places gained in the drivers’ standings between Round 4 (Baku) and Round 5 (Spielberg).