The Barcelona Race Pack

19 May 2022

FIA Formula 2 action is back on the menu this weekend with the second European race of the 2022 season. Following the brief in-season test last month, the F2 grid returns to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the fourth round of the campaign.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Théo Pourchaire finally got his 2022 season back on track at Imola, winning the Feature Race to claim his second victory of the year and retake the top spot in the Drivers’ Championship. That lead is a narrow one though, with just two points separating him from MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich. The Brazilian is threading together his finest patch of form in the series to date.

Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips will be aiming to bounce back from his Imola DNF after a promising weekend fell apart in the Feature Race last time out, as will Liam Lawson. The Carlin driver’s strong start to the year has kept him in the top five in the standings, albeit 17 points adrift of new leader Pourchaire.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

WHERE TO WATCH THE SESSIONS

FROM THE GRID – Olli Caldwell, Campos Racing

“I am excited to be racing at Barcelona again. I had a good weekend there last year (in F3) so looking to continue a good weekend streak there. It'll be interesting to drive the circuit in Formula 2, especially having the new Turn 10. It will also be interesting to see what tyre degradation is like. I think it'll be a really good and difficult weekend actually, but I'm looking forward to it.

“The track is good to drive, especially the first sector. The long Turn 3 into Turn 4 is sometimes physically demanding on the neck, especially in an hour-long race. I think tyre degradation is usually a big factor there, especially in Sector 3. So, it can be a case of whoever saves the tyres the most. We certainly saw that in F3 last year and I expect to see it even more in Formula 2. It’ll be good to learn how to save the tyres and put them to good use there as well.

“I think the best place for an overtake is into Turn 1. If you get a good exit out of the chicane and if you've saved the tyres enough, you can get a good acceleration out of the corner and then get DRS into Turn 1 and be able to pass people into it. I think that's one of the heaviest breakings on the track and one of the easiest places to make a move.”

LAST TIME OUT – IMOLA

It was a weekend of firsts at Imola for several drivers. Vips secured the maiden pole position of his F2 career on Friday, battling torrential conditions to beat fellow Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa to pole by one-tenth.

Marcus Armstrong returned to the rostrum for the first time since Jeddah last year. His Sprint Race victory was the second of his F2 career. He dominated the race from the front after taking the lead on the opening lap. PREMA Racing’s Jehan Daruvala and Dennis Hauger completed the podium in second and third places respectively.

On Sunday, Pourchaire restored himself back to the top of the F2 standings, winning from Enzo Fittipaldi and Ralph Boschung in the Feature Race. It was Fittipaldi’s first Formula 2 podium, and the post-race emotions showed how much it meant to the Charouz Racing System driver. He made up a miraculous 13 positions in the race.

TYRE TALK

Drivers will have the red-marked soft Pirelli tyres and the white hard compound this weekend in Barcelona for round three of the 2022 F2 season.

Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Director

“This will be the first race weekend for Formula 2 at Barcelona since 2020 but it’s a circuit that the teams and drivers know well, especially with in-season testing held there last month. That provided the opportunity to collect plenty of data with the two compounds nominated for this weekend – the P Zero White hard and P Zero Red soft – on a layout that is very demanding on tyres. This year’s hard compound has been redesigned to offer more consistency and a bigger performance gap compared to the softer compounds, but apart from that the nomination is the same as F2’s previous races in Barcelona, with the extra step between compounds producing some exciting racing on a track where overtaking can be tricky.”

KEY STATS

Felipe Drugovich is the only driver to have scored in every single race of the season so far, with a total of 50 points from six races.
There have been more points scorers in the opening three rounds of the season than any season previously, with 20 drivers picking up points in Sakhir, Jeddah and Imola.
10 drivers have finished on the podium this season, with Enzo Fittipaldi, Ralph Boschung and Dennis Hauger all collecting their first podium for the season in Imola.
After his second Feature Race win of the year, Théo Pourchaire is now tied to Felipe Drugovich for the most wins on the 2022 grid, with four apiece.
Over half of the grid, 12 drivers, now have a podium in the second tier to their name, and seven are race winners.
Trident have led 32 laps so far this season, more than any season previously.
The 4.675km long Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya first made its appearance on the Formula 2 calendar in 2017.
Campos Racing’s Olli Caldwell was handed a three-place grid drop penalty for a pitlane incident in the Feature Race in Imola. The Brit will serve the penalty in the next race in which he participates.

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