Top qualifier Ayumu Iwasa starts from P10 on the reverse grid. After a stable drive he finishes in a point-scoring 8th place
HungaroringThe Sprint Race of Round 10 of the FIA Formula 2 Championship took place at the Hungaroring in Hungary.
In the qualifying session on Friday 29 July, Ayumu Iwasa, a Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP) driver, marked the fastest time in his final attempt to secure a first pole position in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. He showcased overwhelming speeds, beating the 2nd-placed driver by 0.381 seconds. He started from P10 in Row 5 of the Sprint Race, where a reverse grid is applied.
In the afternoon, the heavy rain stopped, and by 6:00pm, when the Sprint Race was due to start, the weather had changed to blue skies. The formation lap then started under an ambient temperature of 22°C and a track temperature of 31°C. After the start, an accident happened involving the leaders on the first corner, causing positions to rapidly change. After dodging this accident, Iwasa moved up to 7th, but when he tried to overtake the car in front, he went off the track a little and allowed the trailing cars to pass him, completing the first lap in 9th. The accident caused a car to stop and the Safety Car led the pack until the race resumed on Lap 4.
While cars were tightly bunched up until the final stages on a track where overtaking is infamously difficult, Iwasa was able to control his pace and maintained a steady drive to hold 9th position. On Lap 23, the car in front slowed down as its tyres were failing, and Iwasa moved ahead to 8th. Aiming to improve his position, Iwasa put pressure on the front car and tried to overtake. However, his effort did not pay off and he completed the Sprint Race in 8th to gain one point. He has now scored points in five consecutive races.
Overall, it was a difficult race. As expected, once behind it was difficult to overtake and the tyre graining was very bad. At the start, I avoided an accident at Turn 1 and moved up the field. However, when I got stuck and tried to overtake on the outside at Turn 2, I delayed braking. As a result, I went slightly wide on the outside of the white line, letting two cars get ahead of me. During the race I was careful with my tyre management, and I think it wasn't bad, but the tyre graining was still a problem. At the end of the race, I had a better pace than the car in front, but I couldn't overtake.I’ll start the Feature Race from pole position, but you never know what will happen in a race. So, I’ll prepare thoroughly to be able to go all out.
