PREMA Racing scores podium finish in Silverstone feature race

PREMA Racing ended its trip to Britain with a third-place finish today at Silverstone, as Oscar Piastri claimed a hard-fought podium in the final race of the FIA Formula 2 weekend. 

Piastri didn’t have the easiest start from pole but stayed in touch in the opening stint. Right after the pit-stop, he dropped to P3 as he struggled to keep the pace as his tyres degraded. After a long run behind a car that had yet to pit, he put up a sharp defence for third place and was eventually able to celebrate onto the rostrum, although the leaders were out of reach at that point.

Race 1 winner Robert Shwartzman got another points finish in P5, two positions up from his starting spot. The Russian also experienced a lack of pace and tyre issues but maximized his result to score good points. 

Leaving Silverstone, Piastri leads the championship standings, with Shwartzman not too far in third place. On the other hand, PREMA Racing retains a 37-point lead on its closest contender in the team classification.

“We ended the Silverstone weekend by collecting some good points. We improved from last year, we maximized the loss we had in qualifying and today I think we did everything we could with P5. We struggled with the pace and I think Oscar had the same issue. The start was really good, and I gained two positions in the first lap. However, from the beginning, I had no pace and I was struggling with the tyres, I had low grip and traction. We pitted as soon as possible to get rid of the option set and see if we could improve on primes. Afterwards, I tried to keep the pace but soon started losing tyre grip again. From that point, it was driving to survive, always on the edge. I was holding the pack and there was a lot of pressure on me, but we finally managed to bring it to P5. We need to understand what was the issue with the tyres and the lack of pace. We will work on that to prepare for Monza, let’s hope for a good weekend there!”

Qualifying: P7

Starting Grid Race 1: P4

Starting Grid Race 2: P10

Starting Grid Race 3: P7

Fastest Lap: 1:40.452

Race 1: P1

Race 2: P15

Race 3: P5

“We got P3 in the feature race, which was a difficult one. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have the same pace that we had yesterday. When we caught Nannini in the middle of the race, we didn’t have the pace to pass him, which was surprising and rather disappointing. Even after that, the final laps put my defensive skills to test. We still scored solid points, walked away with another trophy and the championship lead, so overall it has been a great weekend. Not the way we wanted to end it, but we showed well what we are truly capable of, and I want to thank the team for all their work.”

Qualifing: P1

Starting Grid Race 1: P10

Starting Grid Race 2: P5

Starting Grid Race 3: P1

Fastest Lap: 1:39.854

Race 1: P6

Race 2: P4

Race 3: P3

Source | Photo: PREMA Racing