Qualifying
Free practice set the stage for a good qualifying session with Victor achieving the 5th fastest time, while Zak became accustomed to driving an F2 car at the Red Bull Ring for the first time.
Unfortunately, the team and the drivers were unable to put all the pieces of the puzzle together for a final flying lap. Zak improved towards the end of the session, but Victor, who started the session in 4th place, ultimately finished 13th behind Zak in 12th.
Sprint Race
Victor and Zak fought hard from start to finish, gradually climbing up the hierarchy.
Despite the threat of track limits and tire management, they each gained 3 places.
Feature Race
Victor started on super-soft tires, while Zak opted for softs. The Frenchman experienced tire degradation faster than expected and had to wait until his pit stop window opened for relief. He was in 16th place when he came in before climbing back up to 11th at the finish.
Zak had a very long first stint, running in the top 4 before coming into the pits. He returned to the circuit on super-soft tires down in 15th position. He scored points by finishing 9th thanks to running a very aggressive second stint.
Victor Martins:
“Qualifying went well until my last run. I was in the top 5 and had the potential of aiming for the front rows. But on my last attempt, the car’s balance changed slightly, and I felt less comfortable. The conditions were not right for me to improve my lap time, and 13th place then had a big influence on the race results. Tire degradation was difficult to manage, but at the end of the Sprint race, I was able to overtake several cars. In the feature race, I was a sitting duck in the early laps, losing many places and time before being able to change tires. In the end, we were close to scoring a point, but sadly we started from too far back to achieve this.”
Sébastien Philippe:
“At the Red Bull Ring, everything needs to be perfect in qualifying because the gaps are so small. That wasn’t the case, and we paid the price in the race where using the super-soft tires wasn’t easy, especially with a DRS train. Zak and Victor still gained several places on Saturday, narrowly missing out on points. On Sunday, with his super-soft rubber, Victor had to survive until his pit stop to change tires, but by then he was down in 16th place and too far back to score points. Zak was able to exploit the super-soft tires with a better-balanced car at the end of the race, allowing him to finish 9th.”
Copyright : Formula Motorsport Limited
