Sébastien Philippe confident ART ‘will be back’ after O’Sullivan’s Monte Carlo victory

Team Principal Sébastien Philippe and his ART Grand Prix team were revelling in their first win of the season in Monte Carlo, after Zak O’Sullivan took a dramatic victory in Sunday’s Feature Race.

The Briton started from 15th on the grid but went long in the first stint, managing his soft tyres for the majority of the race before pitting from the lead on Lap 40 of 42.

Just prior to the ART driver making his stop, AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen collided with Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney, causing the Paraguayan driver to stop on track and bringing out the Virtual Safety Car moments later.

This neutralised the pace of the field but not before O’Sullivan entered the pitlane for his mandatory stop, allowing him to retain P1 ahead of Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar. From there, the rookie driver held off the Frenchman to take his first Formula 2 victory.

FEATURE RACE: O’Sullivan takes dramatic maiden Formula 2 victory in Monte Carlo

It wound up being a good day all around for ART after Victor Martins finished in ninth, recovering from his slow start from second on the grid to score some valuable points for him and the team.

“We had a difficult start, especially with Victor, we had an issue at the start, so we lost so many positions,” said Philippe. “I think we were something like 16th and 17th, something like that so from that time we knew that we would need to gamble on the strategy.

“We took the risk, but we were all in, so we were hoping for a situation like that to happen. Luckily for us it happened two laps to the end. But Zak also had very good pace, and this allowed us to play this game.

“Until he boxed, he was lapping as quick as some of the drivers who were on better tyres, so, it was a good one. You need some luck sometimes, but again, Zak's pace was really good during the whole race.”

Phillipe continued to praise his drivers and believes O’Sullivan performance in the Feature Race showed that without an issue in Qualifying, where he was fastest in the early stages in Group A, the pace for ART was there this weekend.

“This weekend, both of them showed they had good pace,” he continued. “Victor showed it in Quali and for Zak it was a bit difficult because of the FP in the rain. He had a very good start to Qualifying but some issues on the last two laps made him start far back, but he showed today that the pace was very good.”

HIGHLIGHTS: O'Sullivan and ART win unpredictable Monte Carlo Feature Race

It had been a difficult start to the year for the reigning Teams’ Champions. After AIX Racing’s Monaco Sprint Race victory the day before through Taylor Barnard, they slipped to the bottom of this year’s Standings.

But as they prepare to head to Barcelona next month now seventh in the Championship, Phillipe is hopeful that with the pace shown by both Martins and O’Sullivan, ART’s luck is about to change.

“For sure,” said Phillipe when asked if this weekend could be a turning point for his team. “We have had a hard start to the season clearly, for different reasons. So, it's always nice to get the win in Monaco and hopefully this is the start of the season for us.

“We need to work hard, I think the pace here was quite good, but we need to work and to stay focused and not give up. For sure it's not easy, but we will be back.”