Artem Markelov felt he should have taken a podium finish during Sunday’s FIA Formula 2 championship Sprint race at Silverstone, only for electronic issues to blight his afternoon and condemn him to a fourth-placed result.
The Russian Time driver felt he had the pace to finish inside the top three but found himself hampered when his gearbox went into neutral as he battled with Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing’s Nyck de Vries, while he also suffered moments with his Drag Reduction System, which he revealed did not always work for him.
Despite getting ahead of de Vries, the podium was not forthcoming as the Renault Sport Formula One Team development driver was displaced by both George Russell and Lando Norris, who climbed from seventh and tenth respectively, to claim second and third behind race winner Maximilian Günther.
“I’m sure I could have had a fifth 2018 podium today,” said Markelov, who sits fourth in the championship behind Russell, Norris and Alexander Albon heading to the next round at the Hungaroring at the end of the month. “Once again I had electronic problems. When I was trying to overtake de Vries I lost time when the gearbox went into neutral from second gear.
“I also had trouble with the DRS only working intermittently, so again it’s been a tricky and slightly frustrating weekend from the technical point of view.”
