Iwasa dominates Paul Ricard F2 Feature – Lawson & Daruvala 1-2 in Sprint
The car balance was good and it was all under control. Even with managing the tyres a little bit the pace was still really very good both with soft and hard
Written by Peter Clifford
5 min readPublished on
Red Bull Juniors occupied half the podium places at Paul Ricard. After Liam Lawson and Jehan Daruvala put on a great show at the head of the field in France on Saturday, Ayumu Iwasa was in a class of his own on Sunday, winning the Feature Race by over 8 seconds.
Dennis Hauger fought back from Practice and Qualifying hit by technical issues.
Iwasa untouchable on Sunday
“I am very happy about this weekend,” stated the 20-year-old Japanese. “P2 in Free Practice, P2 in Quali. It was quite good speed, I couldn't get pole position but only by 6 thousandths so that was a bit of frustration for me because we had very good potential. Still, it was good, the car was really good and also I could improve my driving.”
“Yesterday's race was quite tough, following in the DRS train. From the beginning I was managing the tyres a little bit and in the end I had the good potential to overtake a few cars in front of me. The car was good and so was my tyre management.”
“I had good confidence to win the race today. The start was not so good, Jack (Doohan) was very quick off the line but I could overtake him before the chicane. I had good confidence in T6 and in the car to go quick there so I could catch him on the back straight and get ahead.”
“After that I could manage the tyres well, the car and the tyres were really good. The car balance was good and it was all under control. Even with managing the tyres a little bit the pace was still really very good both with soft and hard. So that is why I was able to get a gap behind me.”
It really has given us a lot of confidence, the team and me. So we will carry on and go after another victory. I am sure we will get more wins, we will try again in Hungary.
“Obviously yesterday was really really nice, the car was very good and we scored some good points. Straightaway from the start, I felt at least equal with the guys in front if not a bit faster. Overall, over the whole lap, I think it (the car) was consistently good. So big thanks to Carlin, they did a great job.”
“I think we knew it was going to be a little bit tough starting from 9th today but we had good speed.
Lacked a little bit on the Primes unfortunately, something to look into for next week but in general a good weekend.
We know we've got to be higher up in Qualifying, that is what made today a bit difficult.”
Daruvala 2nd on Saturday and battling through on Sunday
“Overall not the easiest weekend,” explains the 23-year-old Indian. “We didn't really have the pace in Qualifying, we were struggling to find the one lap Quali pace.”
“Also Race 1 was tricky, I didn't have the outright pace to win but was happy with second. The race was OK, started on pole, and had a good start, so I got to the lead. I maintained the gap pretty well, but I was pushing a lot, it was difficult, and Liam was catching me a lot. I tried to make it hard for him, but he had a little bit more pace than I had.”
Jehan Daruvala racing Formula 2 in Le Castellet 2022
“Today we made some steps for sure, in the end, starting from P10 and finishing 7th was the best that I could do. I think our strategy was quite good. We gambled on having a Safety Car which eventually didn't come out.”
“At maximum, we could have gained a position by boxing a lap earlier, but as I said, we were gambling on a Safety Car to try and get a race win or a podium.”
“Definitely next week we need to work on our one lap pace and get right to the front so we can fight for the win on Sunday.”
Hauger struggles to overcome Friday technical issues
Friday: “We had an issue at the beginning of the second run which didn't allow us to use the last set, but with the first set, we were not there, things for me to work on definitely and things to focus on going into the race. It has been a hard day,” stated the 19-year-old Norwegian.
Saturday: "I had a decent start but lost out in turn 4 just been caught in a melee that cost me a bit. Throughout the race, I didn't really have the pace and struggled to get close to the cars in front. It was a tough one for sure, and we definitely want to improve going forward. We made up some positions, but the pace wasn't what we wanted. We have to look into it for tomorrow."
Dennis Hauger racing Formula 2 in Le Castellet 2022
Sunday: "It was a hard race. I had a decent start and a decent first lap, and I gained a few positions. Then two cars in front just collided, and I just got caught up in the middle of it, couldn't avoid it. After that, I made a few positions up on Options and at the beginning of the Prime stint.
I don't know if there was some damage, but I struggled a lot with rear temps.
