PREMA Racing faces mixed fortunes in Bahrain qualifying
It has been an eventful qualifying session for PREMA Racing at Bahrain International Circuit as the FIA Formula 2 Championship lines-up for its 2020 finale at the short and quick Sakhir Outer Track. The team opted to wait before entering the track with the first set of tyres in order to benefit from a clear track. Then, with the second set, a red flag complicated the proceedings even further, turning the final stages in a four-minute shootout.
Robert Shwartzman concluded a positive session at the brand-new track configuration in P4, maximizing the chances he had with the second set of tyres to deliver a high-quality performance that could have been even better. Unfortunately, he was impeded by another car in his final attempt, but his pace was still good enough for a great second-row start.
The day turned out to be quite challenging for championship leader Mick Schumacher, who lost his final chance to improve his position due to contact with another driver. The German was forced to settle for an 18th place and will thus be called to a comeback drive in tomorrow’s feature race.
#20 MICK SCHUMACHER
“Overall, there’s no talking around, a disappointing day. I was hoping for a lot since free practice had worked really well. But it is a very difficult track, and we didn’t manage to make something out of Qualifying. Now we can only look ahead and do a better job tomorrow. I have good race pace, and starting from the back I will definitely look for any opportunity I can get. I will try to work my way up as hard as I can. My goal is obviously to finish ahead of Callum, and that’s all I focus on right now.”
Qualifying: P18
Fastest Lap: 1:03.270
#21 ROBERT SHWARTZMAN
“We had an interesting qualifying here on an interesting track and not a bad result with P4. Generally, I’m quite happy with how it finished but I think we could have done better. I made a mistake in turn 6-7 which I think comprised my lap by one and a half tenth that I lost to Tsunoda. A bit unfortunate because I was hoping for a bit better result. P4 is still a good place to fight from though. On the last lap what Mazepin did to me was not right. Now it’s full focus for tomorrow, the target is to have a really good start and then be patient and try to do the best job possible, maybe finish on the podium or even a win if we can.”
Qualifying: P4
Fastest Lap: 1:02.822
Source | Photo: PREMA Racing