Talking points from Silverstone

With the dust settled at the end of another enthralling FIA Formula 2 race weekend, at Silverstone in Great Britain, we take a look at five talking points from the track.

Records broken

Guanyu Zhou made headlines for all the right reasons in Round 7, breaking multiple records with his blistering pole-winning lap in Qualifying. Firstly, the 20-year-old became the first rookie to achieve the feat this season, only adding to the growing excitement surrounding his potential.

Not only that, but in doing so, Zhou became the Championship’s first ever Chinese pole-sitter, a notable accomplishment that will certainly not have gone unnoticed by the growing population of racing fans in his home country.

Still not content, he had to do so in style, becoming the first driver on the grid to break a lap record this season, beating the one set by Charles Leclerc in 2017 by three tenths.

And, we all know where he ended up… Don’t we?

Home heroes

Jack Aitken discussed his desire to achieve a first home win in F2 ahead of Round 7, but was well aware of the nuisances that come from the competitiveness of this Championship. The Brit has endured an up-and-down campaign so far, admitting that the car hasn’t always been there and that he had also made mistakes, with his last win coming back at Baku, five rounds ago.

Well, the car was certainly there for him last weekend. What should have been a pleasing 5th place finish in the Feature Race wasn’t good enough for the Oxfordshire based racer, who knew a podium was in reach.

The fire in his belly remained ahead of the Sprint Race, with his awesome start proving the catalyst for a win. The Renault development driver leapt to third when the lights went out, before shooting past Championship leader Nyck de Vries on the first lap. He still had to make his way past Louis Delétraz, but the British roars in his ears proved all the determination he needed.

Home racing is proving a considerable omen for drivers this season, with Anthoine Hubert also winning in his own backyard at Le Castellet.

Question is, can Luca Ghiotto follow suit at Monza in September?

Delétraz needs a lucky break

What has the Swiss racer got to do to get a win this season? Two podium places and a couple of near misses have yielded a pleasing tally of points, but the top step still alludes Delétraz who has got within touching distance a number of times. Hubert beat him to it in Monaco by the finest of margins, while in Austria, Delétraz crashed out due to a brake failure during a chase to regain P1 from Sérgio Sette Câmara.

In Silverstone, it was much of the same story. He started superbly and took the race lead from Callum Ilott, but didn’t have the power to fight off Jack Aitken. The Brit was running quicker and eradicated what appeared to be a solid 3s gap between them, fast whittling it down to DRS range within just two laps, before gliding past the powerless 22-year-old and denying him the win.

A first F2 race win still escapes Delétraz, but he is edging ever closer.

De Vries’ determination

Round 7 may have been a “very tough weekend” for De Vries, but he continued a remarkable trend, which didn’t go unnoticed amongst the paddock. His third place finish in the Sprint Race on Sunday means he has now equalled an F2 record and been on the podium in each of the last six rounds, only missing out in the first event of the season, at Bahrain.

Whisper it quietly, but that’s title winning form.

Consistency will be key for UNI-Virtuosi

DAMS have been the crème de la crème of teams so far in 2019, with their partnership of Sette Câmara and Nicholas Latifi proving the most prosperous of the field. A consistent stream of points has led their charge at the top of the championship and they are yet to show any signs of wavering.

Following in second has been UNI-Virtusoi, with their mixture of experience (Ghiotto) and youth (Zhou). So far, they have been in the shadow of DAMS, but the British squad came out on top in Silverstone as the quickest on the grid.

Between Ghiotto and Zhou, they dominated the first three sessions, with both drivers in the top three for Free Practice, Qualifying and the Feature Race.

Carry this on and DAMS will need to start looking over their shoulders.