Formula 2: Fourth podium for Delétraz 🎥
SECOND IN ENGLAND Like last time after a photo finish in Monaco, Louis Delétraz climbed onto the podium in second place in the second Formula 2 race at Silverstone. The Geneva driver had even led for laps. The exciting final phase of the 30-lap sprint in Monaco with the photo finish between Hubert and Delétraz. For the third time this season, Louis Delétraz scored points on [...]
The exciting final phase of the 30-lap sprint in Monaco with the photo finish between Hubert and Delétraz.
For the third time this season, Louis Delétraz scored points in both races on a Formula 2 weekend as part of Formula 1. At the start of the season in Bahrain, he managed two fifth-place finishes, which is his best result to date in Saturday's main race.
In the slipstream of the Monaco winner to second place
In Monaco, the 22-year-old Geneva native made it from the fifth row of the grid to seventh place in the first race, which, according to the reversed grid rule, earned him second place on the grid for Sunday's sprint. The son of former GP privateer Jean-Louis Delétraz turned this into a brilliant second place, as in the previous year. He was just 59 thousandths short of the winner Anthoine Hubert, who cleverly defended against the Swiss with flagging tires, at the finish.
Waiting for confirmation
With 7th place in the second race at Le Castellet, where he was even second in 2018, his points haul this year (2) in the French GP was rather modest. More points (6) resulted in the same placing in the main race of Spielberg. It wasn't until Silverstone, at one of his absolute favorite circuits, that Delétraz finally managed another top result in the second-highest FIA race car class last weekend.
Despite most of the lead laps steam up
As fifth in qualifying, the only Swiss in the field had hoped for more than seventh place after Ralph Boschung's financial withdrawal. Instead, he was allowed to start Sunday's race in second place, as in Monaco. And this again ended with a second place.
Delétraz even led the field after both the start and a brief safety car period. However, the dream of his first Formula 2 victory was thwarted by the unstoppable Brit Jack Aitken.
Louis Delétraz: "On Saturday I lost time and a few positions due to an overtaking maneuver by Nyck de Vries, which I couldn't make up. On Sunday I had a strong race pace, took good care of my tires and seemed to be able to manage the lead. Where Jack then got the extra speed for the last few laps is beyond me. In any case, I couldn't follow him anymore."
The summary of the first laps with the super start and the clear lead of Delétraz can be seen in this partial recording:
There must be more to come now
As in Monaco, the England weekend earned him 18 championship points. Although he remains ninth in the standings after seven and 14 races respectively, he has now moved a little closer to the top with 60 points, which is occupied by the aforementioned Dutchman Nyck de Vries with 170 points ahead of Canadian Nicholas Latifi (139) and Italian Luca Ghiotto (122). Delétraz will therefore have to improve his performance in the second half of the season after the halfway race if he still wants to have a say in the championship.
Louis Delétraz: "I'm very happy with this result, which also allowed me to give Carlin a success at their home race. After this weekend, I'm looking forward to the next races with confidence."
