Despite a good performance in running 4th early on a time loss at a pit stop costs Iwasa and he finishes 12th in the Feature Race
Silverstone CircuitThe Feature Race of the FIA Formula 2 Round 7 Great Britain took place on Sunday 3 July. As per the qualifying order, Ayumu Iwasa started from P6 in row 3 of the grid.
The weather improved over the unstable conditions of the previous day and Silverstone enjoyed a fine day. Under dry conditions with an ambient temperature of 16°C and a track temperature of 32°C, the formation lap got underway at 10:05am. Iwasa got off to a good start and passed two cars by the first corner to take 4th place. On Lap 2, there was an accident, and the Safety Car was brought out. And after four laps with the SC leading the field, the race resumed on Lap 6. Iwasa, in 4th place, and with a gap of around one second between himself and the cars in front and behind him, made a pit stop for tyre changes on Lap 11. He lost a lot of time in the pit replacing the left rear tyre and dropped to 16th overall, which was 9th among those who pitted with the same strategy.
He passed the car in front on Lap 14 to take 15th place, but then struggled to overtake further and continued to run close to the front car. Overtaking was difficult as a train of cars was formed in the midfield and the effect of the DRS could not be used. So, Iwasa remained in 15th towards the end of the race.
On Lap 24 onwards, as drivers who had planned to change tyres towards the end of the race returned to the pit, Iwasa moved up to 11th. However, he was passed by cars with superior pace on fresh tyres, and by Lap 28 he had dropped to 13th. Iwasa overtook one car on the last lap to take 12th before the race was completed.
After seven of the 14 rounds of the FIA Formula 2 Championship, Iwasa is now 13th in the standings with 38 points after adding nine in the Sprint Race.
Before the race, during the run to get to the grid, a problem with the brakes occurred. We repaired it on the grid and started the race. I got off to a perfect start and moved up two positions to 4th. My pace was good from then on. I started the race on soft tyres, and the car was a bit peaky on the softs. We expected it would be hard on the rear tyres and that was actually the case. However, if you look at the gap to the front, I don't think my pace was that bad. The mistake at the pit stop caused a big loss. It's very disappointing and frustrating, but both the team and I look to show a consistent performance, so it's important that we don't make the same mistakes again in the future. The performance of the car on hard tyres was good. The car was in perfect condition, but I couldn't pass the front car to move back up the field. My pace was better, but there were not many overtaking opportunities as the front car was also able to use the DRS.If we hadn't lost time in the pit this time, I think we could’ve aimed for 5th at worst and if successful, 3rd or 4th, but there's no point in talking about the result. However, I feel that I was able to do what I needed to do this weekend without making any mistakes, and the pace of the car is good enough to compete for the top positions, so I remain positive. There are more races to come in July, so I'm concentrating on doing what I have to do first and if I can do that, the results will follow
