In the last three rounds, the Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA) drivers did very well and even if this is going to be a packed and demanding season, it shows the pre-season work has paid off.
Double Silverstone. There’s been a weekend off but now another run of three races will keep everyone going flat out all the way through to mid-August. Robert Shwartzman arrives in Silverstone leading the championship. The 20 year old Russian’s first season in Formula 2 has got off to a really positive start, with a win in the Feature Races at Spielberg and then again at the Hungaroring. He added to his points tally with three more points finishes, including a third place in the first Feature Race of the season, which was won by 21 year-old Callum Ilott. No driver has ever had such a good start to this F2 (previously GP2 series), not even Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton or Heikki Kovalainen.
Callum. Ilott has also had a good start to the season and lies second, after six races on 63 points, trailing Shwartzman by 18. Three of the five FDA students in this category are in the top four. After an unlucky start to the season, Mick Schumacher fought back in Hungary with two podium finishes which helped move him up several places in the championship. However, the Hungaroring did not go well for Marcus Armstrong or Giuliano Alesi. Despite showing good speed, they left Budapest with no points because of a host of misfortunes.
Challenge. “The Silverstone track is a tricky one when it comes to finding the right set-up,” commented the technical head of the FDA, Marco Matassa “and it will be a new challenge for those drivers in their first season in the category. Compared to Austria and Hungary, average speeds are higher and even the chicanes in the second sector are very high speed. It also has some low speed corners that require good traction on the exit and that’s why engineers and drivers have to work hard to find the right compromise in terms of set-up. This is all part of the learning process for a young driver and we know they will face many challenges in the coming rounds, starting with this double-header at Silverstone.”
Programme. The track action gets underway on Friday at 12.55 local time (13.55 CET) with free practice, followed at 17 (18 CET) by qualifying. The racing begins on Saturday at 15.45 (16.45 CET), while the second race starts on Sunday at 10.10 (11.10 CET).