PREMA Racing claims FIA F2 Team Title in Bahrain
With two valuable points finishes scored by Robert Shwartzman and Mick Schumacher today at Bahrain International Circuit, PREMA Racing claimed the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Team Championship with one race to go, as the series lined-up at the fast Bahrain Outer Track for the Feature Race of its season finale.
Schumacher retained his lead in the driver championship and his status for tomorrow’s sprint race with an outstanding run from P18 on the grid. The German was off to a clean start and gradually started fighting back in the early stages, having opted to take-off on the harder prime tyres.
Schumacher constantly improved his position and made the most of his switch to the option tyres after his pit-stop. Lap after lap, he gained ground and places, and eventually crossed the finish line in P6. In addition to the points he got, he will start race 2 from the second row.
Shwartzman had a great start and moved up to P2 early. The Russian was on the opposite strategy compared to Schumacher. After going for an undercut, he eventually dropped to P4 having to deal with tyre degradation late in the race. The Russian still showed good pace and ended up just tenths of a second away from a possible podium spot.
#20 MICK SCHUMACHER
“What an eventful race this was – we knew it’s going to be a difficult one, and the first lap, starting from P18, proved us right. In the course of that lap, I had several contacts with other cars, and actually I felt like being more off the road than on the road during that period. It was very important to go through this chaotic part and phase, so when finally, I was P3 at some stage I kind of realized that I am now set well to be cool when it was necessary and attack when the moments were right.
We could have pitted maybe one lap earlier, because the warming of the tyres afterwards was a bit difficult but nevertheless I think the pace advantage with the option tyres worked well for us. The car was supporting me all the way through the race, so I think managing to secure P7 and the way how this was achieved made this race one of the best drives that we had this year.
I am really happy for Prema, to be Team Champion is great, so we now take these vibes with us for tomorrow’s race, starting from P2. We have the best team, and I am happy to be in the position to finish the race and the season on a high together with them.”
Qualifying: P18
Race 1: P6
Fastest Lap: 1:03.270
Fastest Lap: 1:04.087
#21 ROBERT SHWARTZMAN
“Not the best race for me. I had a really good start and managed to get to P2. I was behind Mazepin but I didn’t find a way past, and at some point, my rear tyres just dropped, so we decided to pit earlier and do the undercut. The pit-stop itself was quite good and the team did a great job. While it was not enough to get ahead of Mazepin, coming to the last corner I managed to pass him. Unfortunately, I made a mistake and locked the front right, which allowed him to regain the position. I’m sorry for that mistake because if I got in front, I could have kept the tyres better and I could have probably fought for the win. I tried to stay close to him and attack, but the tyres dropped again and I started to lose braking performance. Three more cars passed. I tried my best, but I couldn’t do much because it was very hard to keep the car on the braking lines. P5 is definitely not the result I was expecting and knowing we had the pace to win, I’m a bit disappointed, but I’m proud for having brought the team the points needed to claim the Team Championship.”
Qualifying: P4
Race 1: P4
Fastest Lap: 1:02.822
Fastest Lap: 1:04.716
Source | Photo: PREMA Racing