F2: FDA ready to get back on track after a great start to the season

Having secured a clean sweep of the podium in the first race of the season, the Ferrari Driver Academy F2 drivers have high hopes for the second weekend of racing in Spielberg.

The FIA Formula 2 championship will once again be racing at the Spielberg circuit this weekend. After a great season opening, the Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA) has not been resting on its laurels and was immediately back to work preparing for this weekend. “We are very happy with how last weekend went”, commented the FDA’s technical boss Marco Matassa. “In Race-1 we made history taking a clean sweep of the three podium places, the first time our Academy has done this. It was a great moment, as it shows we have got off on the right foot for this season. But once the celebrations were over, we started thinking about the next race”.

New compounds. Although this weekend’s races again take place at the Spielberg track, it will not be an identical scenario to the last one. The Formula 2 cars will run different compound tyres, going from Hard-Soft of last weekend to Medium-Supersoft. “It’s an important change”, confirmed Matassa. “It will mean paying particular attention to tyre management. Even last weekend, with the harder compounds being used, tyre management was important and it will be even more so this weekend.”

Leader. Callum Ilott, who won Race-1, will be looking to consolidate his championship lead, while the two FDA rookies in this category, Robert Shwartzman and Marcus Armstrong will be in fine form off the back of their great debut last weekend. Giuliano Alesi was a strong sixth in the first last Saturday, but in the second race, he was slowed by technical problems which meant he could not fight with the front runners. Also hoping for a quick recovery is Mick Schumacher, who made a mistake that put him out of the hunt for the win in the first race, although he managed to fight his way up into the points in the second race.