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FORMULA 2
RED BULL RING (A)
JUNE 30-JULY 1
ROUND 6/12
For the first time since the opening round of the season, the Formula 2 Championship has a new leader. That’s a result befitting the most dominant performance of any driver over a single weekend so far this season: George Russell at the Red Bull Ring.
The reigning GP3 champion’s pedigree was never in doubt but, despite two feature-race wins and a sprint success before arriving in Austria, mechanical, set-up or on-track issues had robbed him of a truly brilliant all-around weekend. Until now.
The 20-year-old ART Grand Prix star is in potent form and showing above all else that, in a field packed with Formula 1 juniors, he is the standout. It may seem obvious, but that hasn’t always been the case. Erstwhile series leader Lando Norris has plenty of momentum behind him, with plenty of F1 interest. But while he’s also worthy, he’s currently being outshone by Russell in the F1 feeder category.
“I feel like I’m driving better than ever,” said Russell of his performance, starting with his victory in the feature race, of which he actually led very little.
An early safety car for Ralph Boschung’s stranded car on lap six robbed Russell of the lead he’d built to avoid being in range of the potent DRS – available on three straights – from second-place starter Norris. It also meant that the drivers who’d started on the soft tyres stayed out and headed Russell in hope of a late safety car. That meant Artem Markelov led most of the way, buoyed by a new chassis after he was launched airborne in both practice and qualifying by running wide at Turn 9. His Russian Time machine also needed a new engine, and qualified 18th.
When Markelov pitted late on, Russell, who had worked his way up to second on the road, took the advantage to beat the Carlin car of Norris.
Third featured an incredible scrap. Roberto Merhi – who had briefly passed Norris for a net second before being retaken – had started his MP Motorsport car 12th and driven through the field. But in doing so he had spent his tyres, and was jumped by Antonio Fuoco on the last lap. The Charouz-run Ferrari junior had started 13th, and finished 9.6 seconds behind winner Russell, despite making an extra pitstop for a new nose. Fuoco was furious, and insisted that a win had been on the table.
Usual frontrunner Alexander Albon was struggling for braking in his DAMS-RUN car and took fifth ahead of Norris’s team-mate Sergio Sette Camara. But in the late running the attention was all on Markelov – he overtook four cars on the last lap on his fresh supersofts, incredibly leaping up to eighth and pole for the reversed-grid race the following morning, having pitted with four laps to go.
In the midst of clutch issues for its F2 2018 car, the series had announced before
the first race that a single-file rolling start would be implemented. Not good if you wanted to overtake from the start, or so you’d think. But if ever there was a pivotal moment this season, this could be it…
From the sprint race’s rolling start,
Russell passed Norris at Turn 1 in an audacious move, which was for sixth, as Merhi had started from the pits with a clutch issue. He followed that up by passing the next three cars over as many laps at the same corner. Surely his tyres – the Pirellis were degrading quicker than everybody anticipated in Austria – wouldn’t last?
They did for Russell. After passing Norris, Albon, Fuoco and Sette Camara, he reeled in and passed Russian Time’s Honda protege Tadasuke Makino for second on lap seven of 28. Although he couldn’t make an impression on Markelov, he had proved enough with opportunistic overtaking combined with excellent tyre management. Every bit the drive of a champion.
Norris had a nightmare, cooking his tyres and falling like a brick to 11th. “All of a sudden it [the performance] just dropped,” said Norris. “I just didn’t do a good enough job.” He’s his own worst critic and it’s easily forgotten that he’s new to this Pirelli rubber. Don’t write him off yet, although a win hasn’t looked likely since the first round in Bahrain and a step up is needed.
Behind Russell, Sette Camara proved a Carlin car could save its tyres by taking third, ahead of Fuoco, Albon and Makino.