The Silverstone Race Pack

Reaching the halfway point of a riveting 2022 season, Formula 2 heads to Silverstone this weekend for the seventh round of the campaign. Steeped in history, the notoriously demanding circuit is going to provide the drivers the perfect option to test all they’ve learnt so far this year.

__WHAT TO EXPECT __

Drugovich continued to build momentum in Barcelona. A podium in the Feature Race helped the MP Motorsport driver strengthen his hold on the top of the Drivers’ Championship, going 49 points clear of his nearest rival Théo Pourchaire. The Brazilian has finished in the top three in four of the last five rounds but has yet to do so at Silverstone previously.

Jehan Daruvala solidified his grip on third, but it was the rookies of Logan Sargeant and Dennis Hauger who were the biggest movers and shakers, hopping up to fourth and fifth in the standings with 59 and 55 points respectively.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS LINK

Aiming to do the double this season, MP Motorsport leads the way with 154 points in the Team’s Standings. Two strong rounds for Daruvala and Dennis Hauger have helped PREMA Racing leapfrog ART Grand Prix into second on 128 points. It’s nip and tuck between Hitech Grand Prix and Carlin, both separated by only three points heading into their home race weekend with Hitech just in front on 106 points.

WHERE TO WATCH

__FROM THE GRID – Jake Hughes, Van Amersfoort Racing __

“I'm buzzing to be racing at Silverstone this year! It's an amazing atmosphere, even if you're not a British driver the British Grand Prix at Silverstone is something special. There are a few places like Silverstone, Monza, Spa and Zandvoort that a driver really looks forward to, but being British, Silverstone is the one I'm looking forward to the most.

“Silverstone is high-speed, the section from Copse to Stowe is one of the best pieces of race track in the world and I think in a Formula 2 car it will feel like even more of a challenge, which is what we like. That’s the thing with racing drivers, we like fast corners because they’re a challenge and because there's adrenaline and risk versus reward. There’s a lot of that at Silverstone.

“The track is one of the toughest on the calendar for tyre wear, you can easily end up with no rubber on your tyre. With high-speed corners we tend to suffer from the front axle more and being a clockwise track, the front left is usually the main limitation, but it's more of what we refer to as a thermal wear track.

“I think the easiest overtake nowadays is the obvious one from the Hanger Straight into Stowe, but my favourite place is the outside move from Brooklands into Turn 6. It’s in front of the BRDC, and I'll probably have a lot of family and friends in there, so hopefully I'll be in the lead, and I won't need to do pull that move. Typically, the car you're attacking always defends the inside line and then you're forced to the outside. It’s a proper wheel-to-wheel racing manoeuvre and there's risk but it feels good when you pull it off.

“I've come close to winning and getting on the podium multiple times but it’s my first time here in F2, at the highest point of the junior racing ladder, so if I could get on the podium or even aim to get the win, that would be something I'll never forget.”

__LAST TIME OUT – BAKU __

Baku has always been a blockbuster weekend and it was the rookies who stole the show around the Azerbaijani capital. In Saturday’s Sprint Race, Frederick Vesti conquered the unforgiving city streets, taking advantage of a run of Safety Cars to put himself firmly in long-time race leader Daruvala’s mirrors. A lock-up for Daruvala gifted Vesti the perfect opportunity to dive past and bring home a maiden F2 victory, with Daruvala and Liam Lawson completing the podium. The Carlin driver made moves stick to climb for ninth on the grid to third by the chequered flag.

Sunday’s action saw Hauger make it two victories in as many weekends, as the Norwegian reigned victorious in the Feature Race. Hunting down pole-sitter and race leader Jüri Vips, Hauger clawed back time sector-by-sector and forced the Estonian driver into a mistake, clipping the wall in the castle section and the PREMA sailed past to seal the win. Joining Hauger in the top three, Sargeant claimed his second podium of the season as Drugovich took third.

Another strong haul of 19 points for Drugovich helped him extend his lead over Pourchaire, as the Frenchman’s difficult weekend saw him add only two points to his tally.

__TYRE TALK __

This weekend, the drivers will be running the white hard compound alongside the red-walled soft tyres, a step softer than last year’s event.

__Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Director __

“Silverstone’s fast corners provide some of the biggest loads of the season for the tyres, which is why the P Zero White hard tyre is nominated again this year. With the other compound we have gone a step softer than last year by selecting the P Zero Red soft tyre. This will give the drivers even more performance over one lap in qualifying, while also providing an extra challenge for the race in terms of management. The two steps between the compounds should make for some exciting strategy and wheel-to-wheel racing. Of course, the English weather is also famously variable at this time of year and could provide the teams and drivers with another variable to think about.”

__KEY STATS __

After five points finishes, including two podiums, Trident now have 47 points to their name in the Teams’ Championship - more than any year previously.
After his maiden win in Baku, Frederik Vesti added his name to a rostrum of nine race winners on the current Formula 2 grid.
Two drivers, MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich and PREMA Racing’s Jehan Daruvala, have collected points in all six rounds of the campaign so far.
Drugovich has the most points finishes of any driver to date this season, collecting points from 11 out of 12 races.
Three drivers, Richard Verschoor, Marcus Armstrong and Jüri Vips, have previously finished on the podium at Silverstone, with the Dutch driver collecting his maiden win at the circuit last year.
The lap record at Silverstone is 1:38.182, set by Zhou Guanyu with UNI-Virtuosi in 2019.
At 5.891km circuit has featured on every calendar in the modern Formula 2 era.

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The Silverstone Race Pack

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