Formula 2 2017 Round 7 preview: Budapest, Hungary

Friday

Free Practice: 11.55 – 12.40

Qualifying session: 15.55 – 16.25
Press conference: 18.00

Saturday
Driver’s Parade: 13.00 – 13.20

Feature race: 16.00 (37 laps)
Press conference: 17.25

Sunday
Sprint race: 10.20 (28 laps)
Press conference: 11.30

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

Season Stats
6 Poles in 6 rounds for championship leader Charles Leclerc

4 Points between Artem Markelov (2^nd) and Oliver Rowland (3^rd)

7 Different race winners so far (Leclerc, Markelov, Matsushita, Rowland, De Vries, Nato, Latifi)

3 Teams with both drivers in the top 10 (RUSSIAN TIME, DAMS, ART Grand Prix)

Warm Up // Antonio Fuoco – PREMA Racing    

“I think the Hungaroring is a really nice track, especially the middle sector where you have fast corners and some really good braking and now with the new asphalt they did last year the grip is really high, and it’s really fun to drive there.

“You have the first straight, which is quite long, and then some hard braking for the first corner, corner two is down and it’s easy to lock the front left, and then 3 and 4 are really fast and you can’t see the apex and have the exit on the kerb. The chicane is really slow then left and right, which is really fast, then one small straight and one hard braking before the final sector, and the last 2 corners are quite difficult because you need to go in with a lot of speed, and it’s easy to have oversteer there, and the last corner is important for qualifying and for the race because it can give an advantage for the straight.

“It’s quite difficult to overtake, because the mid part is quite tight and on the fast corners it’s impossible to overtake, but at corner 1 you can go inside or outside for corner 2. There’s probably not anything in the middle section, but if someone has some degradation you can try to attack.”

The Stakes
Round 7 sees the teams arrive at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary for the second half of the 2017 FIA Formula 2 Championship, with the halfway point passed in race 2 at Silverstone 2 weeks ago. The tight, twisty circuit is well known to the drivers and teams alike, having all raced there previously. Qualifying is more important than ever, given the difficulty in overtaking under race conditions, with all of the grid looking to find a way to stop championship leader bagging yet another pole position.

Silverstone saw the Monegasque driver extend his lead further in the championship after setting the pace all weekend long: Leclerc topped free practice on Thursday before claiming a strong pole position, setting the fastest lap by over four tenths from Oliver Rowland and Norman Nato, before sprinting to his 5^th win of the season in the feature race well ahead of the race long squabble between Nato and Rowland.

In the sprint race Nicholas Latifi bagged his maiden win from pole position with a solid, mature drive to victory ahead of RUSSIAN TIME teammates Luca Ghiotto and Artem Markelov to set to rest any ghosts lingering from his Barcelona efforts: DAMS teammate Rowland tried to hold back the Russian at the last lap safety car restart but was denied, with Markelov easily nipping past for a podium, with the Briton picking up a time penalty for his efforts.

Mario Isola, Head of Car Racing:

“Although the speeds are relatively low, the Hungaroring works the tyres hard throughout the lap. This has been considered with our selections of the medium and soft compounds for Formula 2, with the intention that as usual drivers will have to display some degree of tyre management: an important skill for them to learn on the way to Formula 1. It could also help to create close racing at a circuit where overtaking is not easy.”

Noteworthy

• Santino Ferrucci moves up from the GP3 Series to FIA Formula 2 with Trident in car #17
• The American is the latest driver in the championship to have links to a Formula 1 team, continuing his development role with Haas F1 for a second year.
• Following Round 7 there will be a mid-season Formula 1 test, on 1-2 August. 7 Formula 2 drivers will be taking part: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Nicholas Latifi (Renault), Luca Ghiotto (Williams), Gustav Malja (Sauber), Nobuharu Matsushita (Sauber), Sean Gelael (Toro Rosso) and Santino Ferrucci (Haas).
• The Budapest round is the last round of the championship before the traditional mid-season break: the next round will be in Spa-Francorchamps on 25-27 August.
• The Championship’s official website can be found here: www.fiaformula2.com

Most Improved

Sergio Canamasas, Rapax: +3 Places gained in the drivers’ standings between Round 5 (Spielberg) and Round 6 (Silverstone).

Source : GP2.com

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