- Arjun Maini [Copyright: FIA Formula 2 Championship]

F2: Arjun Maini gets new engine but no luck in a non-points finish at Spielberg

The Indian had no points to his name despite showing good pace.

Darshan Chokhani posted in Motorsport India & World

3y ago

2.5K

After a headline-grabbing weekend at Paul Ricard for Trident’s Arjun Maini, there was no time to dwell into it as he was back into action in Round 6 of the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship at Red Bull Ring. However, he started off with 17th position - once again with engine troubles.

When showed the data, it revealed of some issues which forced the organisers and Mecachrome to replace and put in a new one ahead of qualifying on Friday. The result was evident with the new unit as Maini qualifying fifth for the feature race.

The Haas junior was the last to dip into the 1m13s bracket to finish 0.458s behind poles-itter ART Grand Prix’s George Russell, who beat the two Carlin drivers Lando Norris and Sergio Sette Camara for his second consecutive pole position.

Qualifying's full report: formularapida.net/f2-russell-beats-carlin-duo-to-pole-in-spielberg/

Feature race

Maini went for a reverse strategy to the front runners as he started on the soft compound along with Prema’s Sean Gelael and Russian Time’s Artem Markelov. But eventually it turned out to be the wrong strategy due to bad luck with two safety car periods.

The Indian lost couple of places to Arden’s Maximilian Gunther and Charouz Racing’s Louis Deletraz in the opening stage, but a retirement for MP Motorsport’s Ralph Boschung, the safety car was brought out prompting the field to dive in for a tyre change.

It meant Maini was in lead from Gelael and Markelov. The Russian cleared the Indonesian soon with Maini creating a buffer from the field. However, the stricken ART’s Jack Aitken forced another safety car which seemingly sealed the fate of the soft runenrs.

They continued on but Maini lost to Markelov as well as Russell and Gelael when he pitted on Lap 32. It was too late in the end as he came out last in 15th – the gap was huge ahead to cover in the seven laps, meaning he had to settle for that position.

He was promoted to 14th after a penalty to Gunther. His teammate Santino Ferrucci managed to score a point in 10th as Russell took the win from Norris with Charouz Racing’s Antonio Fuoco making up 10 places to go from 13th to third.

Full race report: formularapida.net/f2-russell-wins-thrilling-feature-race-from-norris/

Sprint Race

It was a position gain to 13th for Maini at the start of the race with MP Motorsport's Roberto Merhi starting from the pitlane. He was tucked behind Gelael then for the major part of the race with a train of cars in the DRS range.

Only towards the end when drama ensued with Maini going aggressive to take the place from Gelael. The Indian went ahead but Gelael immediately fought back as Maini was forced onto the grass - this brought Charouz Racing's Louis Deletraz in the mix too.

Eventually, Maini couldn't get past Gelael and his minor off allowed Deletraz to sneak through as well to drop the Indian to 14th. However, Gelael and Deletraz made contact, promoting Maini to 12th in the end.

He then the struggling Campos' Luca Ghiotto and also Norris to move up to 10th. He was on the tail of Arden's Nirei Fukuzumi but didn't have anymore laps to end up only 0.619s behind as his teammate Ferrucci once again managed to score with a seventh place finish.

Up front, it was a lights-to-flag victory for pole-sitter Markelov as Russell provided the show, moving from eighth to second in the race to take over the lead of the drivers' standings with Carlin's Sergio Sette Camara completing the podium.

With Russell now leading by 12 points from Norris with Markelov moving to third with 94 points. Maini stays 14th with 23 points after six rounds as they now head to Silverstone next weekend for Round 7 of the season.

Full report: formularapida.net/f2-markelov-wins-spielbergs-sprint-race-as-russell-takes-points-lead/