Junior Formula Series
Tough F2 weekend for Daruvala & Tsunoda at the Red Bull Ring
It wasn't the way that Red Bull Juniors Yuki Tsunoda and Jehan Daruvala wanted to start their F2 seasons. With more good fortune it could have been very different.
- #8 Jehan Daruvala (IND – Carlin Mecachrome Dallara)
- Qualifying: 6th – Race 1 Grid: 6th – Race 1 Result: 12th
- Race 2 Grid top 8 in reverse order: 12th – Race 2 Result: 16th
- FIA F2 Championship position: 16th – 0 points – after 2 races
- #7 Yuki Tsunoda (JAP – Carlin Mecachrome Dallara)
- Qualifying: 12th – Race 1 Grid: 12th – Race 1 Result: 18th
- Race 2 Grid top 8 in reverse order: 18th – Race 2 Result: 11th
- FIA F2 Championship position: 15th – 0 points – after 2 races
It wasn't the way that Red Bull Juniors Yuki Tsunoda and Jehan Daruvala wanted to start their F2 seasons but lessons were learnt and both have more pace that the results show. With more good fortune it could have been very different.
Daruvala clipped on Lap 1
Jehan Daruvala might well have started the Feature Race from the front row and the result would have been very different but he was 6th on the grid and made an imperfect start. The situation was made much worse when he was tapped into a spin by his teammate braking for the second tight right hander.
“It was a pretty hard weekend,” explained the 21-year-old Indian. “It kind of went wrong yesterday on lap one. It was a shame, I think that the speed was pretty good yesterday and honestly now I am just looking forward to a better weekend next week.”
Jehan Daruvala F2 Red Bull Ring
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull
“The speed is there, it is just about putting stuff together. Friday's Qualifying lap would have been good enough for the front row, not probably for pole but definitely for P2 but there was an incident and that wrecked the lap so we were only P6.”
“So it is a shame, all in all I am quite happy with the speed though, so that when things come together next week we should be up there fighting for race wins.”
“I was pretty happy with the car but actually in Race 1 from the first lap impact I had damage on my floor on both sides which was costing me some downforce so that was costing me a bit of time in the first race.”
“Race 2 was really difficult though, I had a bad first lap and after that it was pretty much a train of cars and all with DRS and we couldn't really do much. I knew that there was no point in taking a big risk, just to get a penalty for next weekend.”
“So not the way we wanted to start the year but I'm sure next weekend will be far better,” asserted the Carlin driver.
Tsunoda with more pace than position
Yuki Tsunoda F2 Red Bull Ring
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull
“Free practice was good, the car was amazing,” enthused the 19-year-old Japanese Carlin driver. “Even though we lost a bit of time at the beginning of the session the team did a great job and we managed to be P1 at the end.”
“So it was a very positive start. Also from the start of Qualifying things went quite well, good pace, P2. On the third push lap I was still running a good pace but then came across a slower car and I had to give up on the lap and go for new tyres,”
“Then I came out in a good position so I had a good build up but then the session had some Red flags and we ended up without the time for good push laps on a clear track, always traffic and just not enough time in the end. We didn't get the lap we needed, so only P12.”
“In Race 1 the start was OK, I didn't lose any position in Turn 1. I hit a little bit the car in front in Turn 1 with my front wing. The car then felt a bit strange but I kept going, up to Turn 3 and I braked, a bit late but I thought that I can stop easily. But the car in front stopped quite a lot, stopped more than I expected and I couldn't stop and I smashed to the car in front and damaged my front wing.”
“So I had to pit and change the wing and I stalled it when I tried to restart from the pit, that was my mistake. After that the race pace was quite OK. In the end I think I was two-tenths off the fastest lap, without using DRS so I think that was not too bad.”
Yuki Tsunoda F2 Red Bull Ring
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull
“For Race 2 the start was really good, I gained a position at Turn 1 and gained also at Turn 3, six positions in the first lap. After that there were Safety Cars, I tried to gain a lot on the restarts but there was not enough pace to get positions, I was trying to save the tyres but I did not have enough to make positions at the end and finished P11,” explained Tsunoda.
