Talking points from Le Castellet

With the dust settled at the end of another enthralling FIA Formula 2 race weekend, at Circuit Paul Ricard, in Le Castellet, we take a look at four talking points from the track.

Advantage De Vries

The Dutchman had threated to grab hold of the Championship reins in Monaco, but was foiled by a late fastest lap from then leader Nicholas Latifi. The Canadian had no such defence second time around and was powerless to prevent the series’ in-form driver from stealing a march on the title, who knew that a two-point advantage over his rival would be enough to claim first.

The ART Grand Prix ace’s weekend didn’t actually get off to the greatest of starts when he managed just P4 in qualifying – poor by his recent standards. He’d make light work of the deficit on Saturday though, when it appeared as if he had an earlier starting time to the rest of the track. He didn’t of course, but a lightning fast start off the line had him in first place by Turn 1 and he never looked back.

Sunday wouldn’t run as smoothly and Latifi was able to recover some ground in the standings as the ART driver slumped to P10, which was bettered by the Canadian in fifth. Regardless, it is advantage De Vries as we head into Round 6.

Home comforts

Life must be pretty sweet for Anthoine Hubert at the moment. Last season’s GP3 champion achieved a historic win in the principality of Monaco in the last round, to secure his first ever FIA Formula 2 victory. You’d assume the Renault rookie went into his home Grand Prix thinking it couldn’t get much better than that, especially considering the history of F2 drivers winning at home in France.

No Frenchman had ever achieved the feat and with Hubert in his first ever season at this level, few would have expected him to better those before him just yet. Not satisfied with merely soaking up the atmosphere, the Renault junior earned reverse grid pole in the Sprint Race, rising from P15 to eighth.

Despite his exploits in the Feature Race, the odds again appeared stacked against him when the experienced Jack Aitken appeared in his rear-view mirror, having overtaken four drivers at the race start. The 22-year-old showed a racing maturity that bellied his tender years and held off the Championship contender, who eventually ran out of steam and retreated.

The sight of his pink BWT Arden crossing the line in first sparked a mass celebration around the entire Le Castellet circuit, from paddock to pits, the stands and everywhere in-between. Queue the biggest smile in F2, as Hubert proudly held the French flag aloft.

Duct tape, anyone?

When Louis Delétraz was walloped by the front of Giuliano Alesi in Qualifying and separated from his rear wing - which lay looking rather sorry for itself on the Circuit Paul Ricard - few expected him to make a reappearance that session in what was a pretty desecrated vehicle - even fewer would have expected him to miss merely three laps.

The damage sustained to the Swiss’ car included a missing rear wing, all of the DRS, and a top rear wishbone, but the Carlin team would work miracles and somehow manage to get Delétraz back out on track. “We got some duct tape on there and it was brilliant,” joked Team Principal Trevor Carlin.

Not satisfied with purely getting back out there, the 22-year-old rewarded his teams’ hard work with a remarkable 12th place position, which their Team Principal believes could have been as high as eighth, had there not been a second red flag.

Rookies on top

Juan Manuel Correa and Guanyu Zhou joined Anthoine Hubert in the campaign’s first all-rookie podium following Sunday’s Sprint Race. It was a well-deserved feat which exhibits the exploits of this season’s debutant racers, who have had their fair share of triumphs already this year.

Hubert’s home win has been well documented, but Zhou’s weekend was inspiring in its own right. The UNI-Virtuosi driver made his mark as early as qualifying when his final lap around the circuit produced a scorching time of 1:43.344 and catapulted him up the order to P2.

The brilliance of experienced trio De Vries, Sérgio Sette Câmara and Aitken would deny him a podium place in the Feature Race, but he wouldn’t be deprived of one on Sunday in the Sprint. Eye-catching overtakes on Latifi and Aitken earned him a place on the podium in a well-executed performance. Whisper it quietly, but he’s fast catching the frontrunners in the driver’s standings, with just nine points separating himself (5th), Sette Câmara (4th) and Aitken (3rd).

Sandwiched between the two Renault juniors was Correa, who earned his second top 3 finish of the campaign and his joint best result. The Sprint Race front row starter recovered from a shaky start - when he was overtaken by Aitken and Latifi – to reclaim both positions and nestle himself nicely behind the imperious Hubert.