Preview
Spielberg Preview: Speeding into the second half of 2023
PREMA Racing’s Frederik Vesti and Oliver Bearman were untouchable last time out in Barcelona, and the Italian squad will be looking to solidify their hold on the Championship lead as the 2023 FIA Formula 2 season picks up again in Spielberg.
Ahead of Round 8, here’s all you need to know about the field’s return to the familiarity of the Red Bull Ring, as the fight for ultimate glory enters its next phase.
THE FORM BOOK
Frederik Vesti followed up his Monte Carlo Feature Race victory in style, keeping title rival Théo Pourchaire at bay to snatch victory in a wet-to-dry Sprint Race around the Spanish circuit. A fifth-place finish on Sunday allowed the Dane to strengthen his advantage over the ART Grand Prix driver as they return to the site of his maiden pole position last year, with Vesti on 110 points to Pourchaire’s 99.
40 points separate the top four drivers in the Standings, with Ayumu Iwasa losing some ground to the leading duo on 82. Oliver Bearman bounced back into the hunt with a second pole position of the season and a masterful Feature Race victory. Moving up four places, the Briton now leads the rookie charge in fourth.
Further back, MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger remains fifth on 57 points. Meanwhile. Richard Verschoor’s points-scoring streak extends to 11 consecutive rounds and Budapest year. His run puts the Van Amersfoort Racing driver seven points off Hauger.
PREMA Racing’s third successive victory has seen them break 36 points clear of their nearest rivals ART Grand Prix, on 180 points to their 136. DAMS continue to sit in third, a further 26 points behind.
FROM THE GRID – Isack Hadjar, Hitech Pulse Eight
“I like racing at the Red Bull Ring, especially given the results I had there in F3 with my maiden pole and Feature Race win. It’s a shorter up-and-down track, really fast flowing and easy to overtake on. I enjoy being there, the atmosphere is good and the fans are a bit crazy.
“I really love the last sector. The double right to end the lap is really tricky, especially track limit-wise, I had a lot of laps cancelled for that. I really enjoy the blind entry in Turn 9, it’s really fast and the last corner going downhill, smacking the floor on the car is great.
“I like to overtake into Turn 3, uphill braking for the hairpin. I think you can go from quite far back. Also, the move for the lead that Jak did on Caio (Collet) in F3 last year in Turn 7 was quite good. That first left high-speed corner is great. I think it’s the easiest track for tyre degradation. Actually, you set best lap times towards the end of the race, there’s really low deg so can push through the whole race.
“It’s a special race as a Red Bull Junior. In F3 last year, we had Jak (Crawford) winning the Sprint and I won the Feature Race, so to have two Red Bull juniors winning at the Red Bull Ring was great. Hoping for the same again and to share the podium with my teammate.”
RACE STRATEGY
Tyres will be one step softer for the field’s return to the Red Bull Ring. Whilst the purple-walled supersoft tyres remain the same, Pirelli have opted to go one step softer for their option tyres, with the red-walled soft compounds in action this time around.
Time will be off the essence in the 30-minute Qualifying session. Drivers will need to set their laps quickly and efficiently to avoid the possibility of losing their best chances to traffic but leave enough performance in the tank to capitalise on track evolution late on. Whilst the softs are the likely choice for the Sprint, the small performance difference between the two compounds opens the window for a lengthy stint on the supersofts on Sunday. Expect teams to switch up their strategies, with those on the primes looking to benefit from the additional grip off the line to sweep past those ahead on the short run uphill to the tricky blind right-hander at Turn 1.
However, rain could throw another curveball the drivers’ way, with the previous two Feature Races getting underway in wet-to-drying conditions and the forecasts anticipating scattered showers throughout the weekend. Last year, Logan Sargeant overcame the disadvantage of starting on wet tyres on a damp circuit by flying through the field on slicks to claim the victory following post-race penalties for Richard Verschoor and Jehan Daruvala.
Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Director
“The Red Bull Ring is all about acceleration and braking, so managing the performance of the rear tyres is especially important. The most demanding corners for the tyres are the two consecutive left-handers in the middle of the lap, with every major corner being right-handed. The lap is very short, so the field is close together and the drivers have to deal with the traffic. An unpredictable element during the weekend could be the weather. The nominated compounds for the Austrian circuit are Soft and Supersoft, a versatile pair of tyres with a slight difference in performance on the track”
STAT PACK
- 11 drivers have led at least one lap this season, with Frederik Vesti having led the most with 87 laps led to Ayumu Iwasa’s 61.
- PREMA Racing are only two wins away from matching their season-best haul, having scored eight in their title-winning 2021 campaign.
- Kush Maini has raced the most laps so far this season with 340, one more than Clément Novalak, totalling 1707km.
- PREMA Racing could become the first team to score over 2000 points in Formula 2 history this weekend. They need to collect 63.5 points out of a possible 65.
DID YOU KNOW?
Fielding the most juniors of any Formula 2 season, Red Bull will have six drivers taking to the track at the team’s home event. The Red Bull Ring has been a happy hunting ground for them in recent years, with Jak Crawford and Isack Hadjar doing the double with Sprint and Feature Race victories in Formula 3 last year, whilst Dennis Hauger claimed P1, P3 and P2 finishes in the three races at the Austrian circuit on his way to his 2021 F3 title.