The jam-packed summer schedule of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 championship sees us head to the Hungarian capital of Budapest for the tenth round of the season after just a weeks break between the last round in the south of France.
As well as the usual bits and bobs in the F2 round previews, we also hear from Ayumu Iwasa who won the first race of his Formula 2 career last week in the Le Castellet Feature Race.
The Story So Far
As he has since the second round of the season in Jeddah, Felipe Drugovich continues his reign at the top of the championship standings and the Brazilian driver boasts a thirty-nine point lead over Théo Pourchaire.
The weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard was dominated by the Red Bull junior academy with Liam Lawson and Iwasa winning the Sprint Race and Feature Race, respectively.
The Carlin driver made a few moves on fellow countryman Marcus Armstrong and then fellow Red Bull junior Jehan Daruvala late on to secure his second win of the season.
In Sunday’s Feature Race, Iwasa took the lead from a slow starting Logan Sargeant when the five lights went out and laid down the gauntlet to stretch out an eight second lead by the time the chequered flag fell.
With ART Grand Prix taking a double podium in the Feature Race after Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti finished second and third respectively, it means they have taken the top spot of the teams’ standings.
Long time leaders MP Motorsport drop down to second, just ahead of Carlin who sit underneath them by the fine margin of two points.
What Happened Last Year?
The Hungaroring was absent on the 2021 F2 calendar and returns for the first time since Mick Schumacher’s title-winning season in COVID-19 stricken season in 2020.
The current Haas Formula 1 driver took a double podium that weekend and it was the Hungaroring which was the scene of his first win in Formula 2 during the 2019 Sprint Race.
Robert Shwartzman won the Feature Race after Callum Illot started from pole position ahead of Nikita Mazepin in second place.
Formula 2 veteran Luca Ghiotto won the Sprint Race ahead of Illot with Schumacher taking the third spot for his second podium of the weekend.
Instead of being present on the F2 calendar, Budapest was part of the 2021 FIA Formula 3 season instead. That weekend marked Iwasa’s first win in the third tier of single-seater racing, comfortably winning the first sprint race after starting from reverse grid pole position.
The Japanese driver recalls the weekend as being “a very good memory”. Iwasa enters the weekend full of confidence after his maiden race win last week in France and states that “good confidence in my car and my driving” is a necessity.
“The track is really technical – not a very long straight, not a lot of high-speed sections. In Formula 2, the car is completely different to Formula 3 so I’m looking forward to seeing the differences between F2 and F3.”
After getting his first win in the category, the Red Bull junior is still chasing his first pole position. He’s been close before after qualifying in second place by just 0.006s last weekend.
“Free Practice will be quite important for Qualifying. I think I will need to go and find the maximum limit of the track and the car in FP. Last year in F3, I had a lot of track limits in Free Practice because I wanted to see the limit of the track in the car.”
“I didn’t put everything together in Practice but in Qualifying I could because I already knew the limits for everything. I think that approach was quite good so I will keep it this time around but in F2 the tyre is a bit different as well so we’ll see.”
He took the lead of turn 1 of last week’s Feature Race after a slow start from pole-sitter Sargeant and he highlights the same turn at the Hungaroring as “one of the biggest threats for overtaking” too.
“If there are wet conditions, opportunities should be everywhere because in F3 last year there was a wet race and overtaking was possible in every corner.”
“It depends on the car potential and the time potential; you can lose a lot of positions in one corner but you can also gain a lot of positions in one lap.”
Track Facts
Distance: 4.381km (2.722 miles)
Total Turns: 14
DRS Zones: 2
Available Tyre Compounds: Medium/Soft
Lap Record: 1:26.268 by Oliver Rowland in 2017 (DAMS)
2020 Pole Position: 1:50.767 by Callum Illot (UNI-Virtousi)
Weekend Schedule
- Free Practice: Friday – 09:40 BST (10:40 Local)
- Qualifying: Friday – 17:30 BST (18:30 Local)
- Sprint Race: Saturday – 17:00 BST (18:00 Local)
- Feature Race: Sunday – 10:35 BST (11:35 Local)
