F2

Dutchman De Vries flies to Budapest pole; Arjun Maini P15: F2

Budapest, 2 August 2019: Nyck de Vries continued his so far flawless weekend to claim an emphatic pole position in the wet, in today’s FIA Formula 2 Qualifying at the Hungaroring. The ART Grand Prix ace picked up where he left off in Free Practice to finish ahead of Championship rivals Luca Ghiotto and Nicholas Latifi.
The rain threatened to derail the session right from the start, as Nikita Mazepin succumbed to the slippery circuit and spun at Turn 7 on his out lap. The Russian was unable to get going again, which prompted a red flag so that the marshals could quickly whisk him off track.
At the restart, De Vries was the first back out there, but focused on testing the track limits with rain still pouring down, and lapped the Hungaroring in 1:50.820. Guanyu Zhou and Mick Schumacher opted for a similar strategy and nestled into third and fourth, with Luca Ghiotto coming closest to the Dutchman. The UNI-Virtuosi man lapped just 0.061s slower, eying up P1 with his next tour.
The Italian duly set a purple first sector, but a wobble in the third proved his undoing, as he was unable to beat his prior time. He had the same issue on his next lap as the rain began to take its toll on the field.
Latifi held his lap together and stole P1 from the clutches of his rival by 0.242s, as he coveted his first ever pole position in the category. Meanwhile, Schumacher had looked pacey in practice and nipped in-between the traffic at the start of a flying lap in his own bid for pole. The German was unrelenting in the rain and despite a slightly slow second sector, snatched second place with a searing lap.
It was then that De Vries came into his own, displaying his undeniable ability over one lap. The Championship leader smashed out three perfect purple sectors to break the 1m 50s barrier and take an unassailable lead at the top.
Ghiotto improved upon his time prior to the chequered flag, but couldn’t match the sheer speed of De Vries in the rain, who held on for pole position ahead of Latifi, Schumacher and Louis Delétraz. They were followed by Callum Ilott, Jack Aitken and Nobuharu Matsushita while Anthoine Hubert and Zhou completed the top ten.
Racing will resume on Saturday morning at 10.10am (local time) when De Vries will aim to continue his perfect start to Round 8 and add to his Championship lead. Following closely will be title rivals Ghiotto and Latifi, in what could be the tightest battle of the season yet. Don’t count against further downpour which would add extra spice to an already tasty looking race.
FIA Formula 2 Championship – Round 8 Qualifying provisional classification
DRIVER
TEAM
LAPTIME
LAPS
1
Nyck De Vries
ART Grand Prix
1:49.809
13
2
Luca Ghiotto
UNI-Virtuosi Racing
1:50.036
13
3
Nicholas Latifi
DAMS
1:50.578
13
4
Mick Schumacher
PREMA Racing
1:50.748
12
5
Louis Deletraz
Carlin
1:50.853
14
6
Callum Ilott
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:50.871
13
7
Jack Aitken
Campos Racing
1:50.962
13
8
Nobuharu Matsushita
Carlin
1:51.408
14
9
Anthoine Hubert
BWT Arden
1:51.513
12
10
Guanyu Zhou
UNI-Virtuosi Racing
1:51.573
13
11
Jordan King
MP Motorsport
1:51.717
13
12
Juan Manuel Correa
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:51.788
13
13
Sergio Sette Camara
DAMS
1:51.817
12
14
Giuliano Alesi
Trident
1:52.644
13
15
Arjun Maini
Campos Racing
1:52.718
12
16
Ralph Boschung
Trident
1:52.956
13
17
Sean Gelael
PREMA Racing
1:52.995
12
18
Tatiana Calderon
BWT Arden
1:53.997
12
19
Mahaveer Raghunathan
MP Motorsport
1:55.217
12
NOT CLASSIFIED
Nikita Mazepin
ART Grand Prix
Tags
Show More
Back to top button
Close
Close