FIA F2 in Melbourne
Nissany being highly focused before the start
The Formula 2 weekend in Australia was a highly anticipated event, with some of the top young drivers in the world competing for the top spot on the podium. The race took place on the challenging street-circuit in Melbourne, with a mix of high-speed straights and tight corners that tested the skills and bravery of the drivers. For the first time ever, FIA Formula 2 visited Australia, as a supporting series for Formula 1.
After only a few laps of free practice on Friday, our driver Roy Nissany found himself in the track barrier of the last corner and practice was interrupted with a red flag to recover his car.
Fortunately, the car was not too damaged and our crew did an excellent job to get Roy's car fully repaired for qualifying, which took place just a few hours after practice. Brad Benavides completed 16 laps during the session and collected some useful data for Qualifying and both races.
For Friday afternoon's qualifying session the skies opened their gates and it rained quite heavily, which meant that the Pirelli rain tires had to be used. The circuit, already so very challenging, became much more difficult for the drivers with all the water on the new track for Formula 2. Some drivers found themselves in the wall or gravel, while others bumped through the Albert Park meadows. But not Roy Nissany and Brad Benavides. Both were able to keep their cars on track in these difficult conditions. Roy finished the 3rd qualifying session of this season in 14th place, which is the best for him this season. Brad Benavides was doing his best laps of the session when the red flag was waved for an accident on track. This meant that he was not allowed to finish the lap, which would have been a very significant improvement for him. He will start both races from 22nd place and clean up the field from the back.
In the sprint race on Saturday over 22 laps, the slick Pirelli tires could be used again. After the first lap, Brad Benavides had a very good start and was already in 18th position. On the second lap he managed to overtake another two cars and was in 16th position. Roy also got a clean start and was able to improve one position in the fiercely contested midfield. There was a fairly high probability of rain for the last laps of the race and when shortly before the end, the safety car came on the track because of an accident, our team, like some others, seized the opportunity and stopped Brad to put rain tires on his car. Unfortunately, the track was still too dry at the beginning and it was quite difficult to keep the car on the dry track with rain tires. Some drivers made mistakes and so unfortunately Brad, who hit the wall of the penultimate corner with the front wing, his race was over, but definitely impressed the field with his overtakes in the early stages of the race. After the safety car drove back into the pit lane, there were still 2 laps to go and Roy gave everything to get some points on the board for the team. After a very strong faultless drive Roy finished the race only 0.292 seconds behind 8th place and so just outside the points positions.
The feature race on Sunday morning takes place immediately before the Formula 1 Grand Prix, so the grandstands were already well filled. The sun was shining and there was no chance of rain for the race. Brad got another wonderful start and was already able to make up 2 positions in the first turn. Roy was able to maintain his starting positions in the first laps of the 33 laps long race. With the safety car on lap 8, which was deployed due to a crash, the team with Brad seized the opportunity for a pit stop, which is mandatory in the main race because both tire compounds have to be used. Roy Nissany started the race with the alternative strategy and found himself in 2nd position before the safety car restart on lap 13. He started with the harder tyre compound to have a longer first stint and the faster softer tyres at the end. Many hard-fought battles ensued for Roy against drivers with better tyres, some of which saw him pushed wide by other drivers. During one of these battles Roy unfortunately touched the grass ever so slightly and hit the wall at the exit of turn three, which ended the race for him. As Fittipaldi passed the car of Roy, his rear suspension collapsed and he just missed the car of Roy by half a metre, which would have been a very heavy crash. Brad made up some positions in the final laps of the race and finished in 12th position, which is the best for him this season.
Overall it was a strong performance by the whole team and for the third time in six races Roy Nissany finished just one position behind the points. Brad drove his best race so far too. We can definitely build on that. Now it’s time for a little rest, before we hit the streets of Baku again in three weeks.
