We knew we only had one lap to perform and on that lap, we basically put it together and secured the P2
Written by Peter Clifford | Layout: Oliver Schran
3 min readPublished on
F2 points leader Isack Hadjar qualified P2 in Monza F2. The 19-year-old Frenchman was going just as fast at the end of Sunday yet added no points to his total after two days of rotten luck in Italy.
Fellow Red Bull Juniors Pepe Martí and Ollie Goethe also didn't have an easy time but Martí scored a very good 4th in the Sprint and Goethe did an excellent job of getting used to the F2 car after being thrown in at the deep end on his debut.
Hadjar always fast
“Qualifying went great, it was a bit of a mess with all of the tow games. We knew we only had one lap to perform and on that lap, we basically put it together and secured the P2.”
“The Sprint Race was a repeat of the Red Bull Ring. With high temperature we hit a limited power mode for almost the whole race plus a clutch part that broke at the start. At the end, I ran in free air and the engine cooled down. With full power, I could set really fast lap times.”
“To avoid a big incident I had to cut the chicane but still, I was in the fight, 5th. I made my way up to 3rd provisionally before the pit stop. It was slow and we were impeded by other cars so I couldn't get out of the pit.”
“On the next lap, there was a Safety Car and all the others pitted. So we lost 9 more places added to the 4 I lost with the pitstop. P18 after the restart, we made our way to P12, the pace was OK but it was a joke of a weekend. The main thing is we had pace and we will bounce back in Baku.
Martí makes good points in the Sprint
“On Friday we had a decent Qualifying, came away with 7th,” explained the 19-year-old Spaniard. “So we had a good position for both races. Unfortunately on Saturday after getting a really good start and going up to first we just didn't have the pace and struggled to keep our position. Ultimately we finished fourth, some points but disappointing from where we were 5 laps in.”
Today I had an amazing start, practically 3rd into the first braking zone.
“Then made a big mistake, hitting the guy in P2 and obviously the race was pretty much over from then. We were quite lucky, got a 10-second penalty, not much to do after that. We managed to have decent pace towards the end, something positive to take away and go to Baku with.”
Goethe learning fast in swap from F3
“What an experience that was driving the F2 car here in Monza without any preparation,” exclaimed the 19-year-old German. “In Free Practice my goal was to learn as much as possible for the rest of the weekend. I was able to adapt quickly to the car despite it being quite different to anything I’ve ever driven.”
Oliver Goethe gives his F2 debut in Monza with MP - 2024
“In Qualifying I was struggling on the first set but managed to put an OK lap together on the second set, which ended up being 12th on a very tight grid. Gutted to miss out on top 10 but overall it was a good start to the championship.”
In the Sprint Race unfortunately I got taken out before even making it to T1.
“In the Feature I had a good start and showed very good pace considering it was my first long run in F2. Unfortunately, the Safety Car ruined our strategy and destroyed any chances to finish in the points. Overall I’m very happy with my progress and speed.”
