Monaco: First F2 podium for Louis Delétraz
GREATEST SUCCESS Louis Delétraz from Geneva scored his first podium in the second of the two Formula 2 races in Monaco. The Sauber team narrowly escaped a world championship point at Charles Leclerc's home race. While Formula 1 delivered its most boring race in recent years and Team Alfa Romeo Sauber narrowly came away empty-handed (11th place for Marcus Ericsson, accident by [...]
While Formula 1 delivered its most boring race in recent years, with Team Alfa Romeo Sauber narrowly coming away empty-handed (11th place for Marcus Ericsson, accident due to brake failure by Charles Leclerc), Formula 2 offered the attending public top entertainment on Friday and Saturday with the 620 hp Dallara race cars.
One of the two Swiss managed the best performance ever.
Redemption for Louis Delétraz
At the previous three GP weekends where Formula 2 appeared, things never went smoothly for Louis Delétraz. Instead, everything worked out at the most important race of the year.
Still slowed by a red flag in qualifying, the 21-year-old from Geneva showed what he was capable of in the main race on Friday, starting from 14th on the grid. First, Delétraz made up six positions after the start, then he made an early mandatory pit stop.
The strategy worked. After all 20 drivers had changed their tires, the Swiss was in fourth position, which he brought safely to the finish.
This meant fifth place in the lineup for Saturday's sprint. On the outside, Delétraz overtook two competitors at the same time in the third turn.
Although electrical problems made it difficult for him to shift gears afterwards, Louis successfully defended third place all the way to the finish against Friday winner Artem Markelov from Russia. He was then allowed to go to the princely box for the award ceremony in third place.
"An incredible feeling"
As the icing on the cake of his best Formula 2 weekend to date, Delétraz retroactively moved up to second place because the previously second-placed leader of the standings, Lando Norris, received a time penalty. Thanks to Antonio Fuoco's (I) victory, this meant a one-two for Charouz Racing Systems.
Louis Delétraz: "It's an incredible feeling to be placed so well in Monaco of all places after the difficulties we've had so far. The sprint race was my toughest ever due to the technical problems. Markelov put me under enormous pressure, I couldn't make any mistakes and concentrated on not leaving any door open for him."
No luck for Ralph Boschung
The second Swiss in the field, Ralph Boschung, retired in both races. Before that, the man from Valais had already scored four times in Bahrain and Azerbaijan.
In the 2018 Formula 2 championship, Delétraz is in eleventh place with the 24 points collected in Monaco and Boschung is in 16th intermediate place with 10 points.
