Junior Formula Series
Iwasa wins, Maloney & Crawford podium in F2 Monaco
The Sprint Race was quite good in terms of the result. I won a race in Monaco so I was quite happy
Monaco's F3 and F2 races enabled the Red Bull Juniors to showcase their abilities with Ayumu Iwasa taking another excellent F2 Sprint win on Saturday and Jak Crawford joined him on the podium after again showing great pace. Zane Maloney put in a very fine drive in Sunday's F2 Feature Race to take 3rd.
Ayumu Iwasa winning on Saturday
“In Qualifying I was quite disappointed by my mistake,” admitted the 21-year-old Japanese. “In turn 12 I hit the wall and broke my suspension. .”
Ayumu Iwasa #11 (Dams) crossing the line for the F2 victory in Monaco 2023
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
The car had the potential to fight for the pole position so I am quite disappointed by my mistake.
“The Sprint Race was quite good in terms of the result. I won a race in Monaco so I was quite happy. I had a bit of luck as well as speed so I was very happy, it was a very positive race to prepare for the Feature Race.”
“Today's Feature Race was quite a bad result for me because I had the pace but I didn't make the result with this pace. We made a mistake with the strategy and so we could fight for the position that the pace should have given us.”
“We were looking for top 5, top 6 but we couldn't do it because of the strategy. We need to learn from this and try to do the best job from now on. We work together as a team and try to get another victory in Monaco.”
Zane Maloney holds 3rd on Sunday
“Qualifying, we qualified P5 overall, which was a big step forward from Baku,” explained the 19-year-old Barbadian. “I made a couple of mistakes on my last lap which cost us a better position but I'm still quite decently satisfied with Qualifying.”
“Sprint Race, started P6, finished P5 so not much else I could have done really, so difficult to follow and overtake here in Monaco.”
Zane Maloney - F2 Pitstop in Monaco 2023
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
“We tried some stuff with the set-up today, struggled a bit for pace, had to keep the tyres alive, had a lot of deg, especially in the front. It was a difficult day but to come away with a podium on a difficult day is a very good result.”
So very happy with the result, of course, not satisfied with the pace.
“Brought it home where we could and I'm really looking forward to continuing the progress in Barcelona.”
“The team are doing a great job and really helping me out so hopefully we can continue this progress and for the rest of the year I know all the tracks well, no more street circuits so we can get in a bit of a flow and hopefully more great results to come.”
Jak Crawford conserves a strong podium
“We had a really strong weekend in my opinion,” enthused the 18-year-old American. “Free Practice didn't start out amazing, we just lacked a bit of pace and also it was my first time at this track which was super difficult to manage with the limited amount of laps we had.”
“Qualifying, really god, I think I put it together decently, there was still improvement to come, potentially we could have been 3rd in group and P5 overall but in the end it was P7 and that is our best result. It was really strong to make those improvements from Free Practice.”
“The Sprint Race, we struggled with the car a bit, I was running in 3rd most of the race, at a certain point, I just decided to take it easy and bring the car home. I was never going to overtake the cars ahead and I wasn't going to be overtaken from behind. It was just about keeping it out of the wall and hanging on to the podium.”
Jak Crawford on the Formula 2 podium in Monaco 2023
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
“To Sunday and we were the first car starting on the option, super soft tyre. We had really really good pace and were projected to come out P5 in a normal race.”
But then there was a Red Flag that put us a lap down somehow.
“That really screwed us today, there was nothing that we could have done better. The guys we would have been ahead of finished P3 and it is unfortunate to see another podium slip away because we had such great pace today.”
“I was super happy with the performance and it was our best race so far in F2. Even though we finished 9th we had really good speed. At the end of the day, it's motorsports and you get lucky in some races and unlucky in others and today although we had really good pace, we weren't lucky.”
Dennis Hauger makes the most of it
“A hard weekend overall,” stated the 20-year-old Norwegian. “We had more to give in Qualifying but couldn't put it at the right time. Was on a decent lap before the Red Flag which made our weekend a lot more difficult.”
Dennis Hauger racing Formula 2 in Monaco 2023
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
“In the Sprint Race, it was just about staying alive. Had to change the front wing due to a crash in front of me and we put on the option tires to test for the Feature Race on Sunday basically. Not much happening otherwise.”
“Today was a good day. Happy we finally had some luck on our side. And bring some points into the standings which was important.”
We have some work to do if we want to catch the leader in the championship so we will push and regroup for Barcelona.
Enzo Fittipaldi short on luck
“So the weekend is finished here in Monaco. Obviously, I am frustrated, we had the pace from the beginning. It was difficult with our position in the box, we were last and in Qualifying, with the Red Flags it was very difficult to get a lap in.”
Enzo Fittipaldi is ready to race F2 in Monaco 2023
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
“So we were starting in P14 for both races. It is very difficult to overtake in Monaco. I was able to make some ground in the Sprint Race yesterday and finished in the top 10.”
In the race today we had an engine problem, I couldn't complete the race.
“I am looking forward to Barcelona. Looking forward to bounce back and have a good race weekend there.”
Isack Hadjar with no luck at all
“A difficult weekend, a really unlucky one,” explained the 18-year-old Frenchman. “Initially, in Free Practice, I wouldn't say we were lacking pace but for most of the session, we had a brake problem. My confidence was quite low, I couldn't stop the car as I wanted to, it just killed a bit my confidence. It was only really late on in the session that I got to push.”
“That wasn't the ideal prep for Qualifying so going into Qualifying I just didn't have the confidence. Still, I had the feeling I was doing a really good job on the first run but I was one of the few who got the Red Flag due to Leclerc, I couldn't complete what was a really good lap. I had one lap and then the Safety Car due to Daruvala. Really frustrating, only 5th.”
Isack Hadjar racing Formula 2 in Monaco 2023
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
“Race 1, from Pole here, it's quite easy, you get a clean start and you lead the race, you manage it from there. I was pretty sure that from Pole I was on the way to win. I had the lead for 7 laps. Then… a mechanical issue.”
So unlucky, nothing we could do. Quite depressing to be honest.
“Race 2 today, as I didn't get to race yesterday I didn't have a good idea how the tyre deg would be. I had a poor first stint, but still, I think we were on for a few points but then with the late Safety Car and Red Flag we got undercut by the cars behind and that was it basically, even though the pace was pretty good.”
“A disaster weekend with the pace we had again, so yeah, we will try to fight back in Barcelona.”
RESULTS Monaco Grand Prix - F2 Monte Carlo
Rank
Person
Team
Time
1
V. Martins
ART
1m 21.231s
2
J. Doohan
INVICTA
+0.201s
3
R. Verschoor
VAN AM
+0.408
WATCH THE F2 HIGHLIGHTS FROM MONACO 2023
- F2 Sprint Race Highlights | 2023 Monaco Grand Prix
- F2 Feature Race Highlights | 2023 Monaco Grand Prix
Next Round Barcelona June 3/4
More from the 2023 Formula 2 Season
