Piastri wins feature race, Shwartzman takes P2 in Driver Championship
PREMA Racing completed the 2021 FIA Formula 2 season with a win and a top-5 finish in today’s Abu Dhabi Feature Race.
Starting from pole at Yas Marina, newly-crowned Driver Champion Oscar Piastri stayed in control for the whole 33-lap distance after contact in pit-lane forced him to receive a new front wing on the grid. The Australian led the way at the get-go, and having started on the softer tyre compound, he promptly returned to the lead when everybody else made their stop. At that point, he sailed to win his fourth consecutive Feature Race with a comfortable margin. The Alpine Academy 20-year-old wraps up the season with six wins to his name.
Running on the same strategy, teammate Robert Shwartzman jumped to third place at the start but had a tougher time saving his tyres, while in the middle of the pack. The Russian eventually fell out of pace in the final laps and was demoted to P5. With the points secured in race 3, the Ferrari Driver Academy racer secured the runner-up spot in the driver championship.
#1 ROBERT SHWARTZMAN
“We finished our fourth year together with Prema. It has been a lovely journey, and I enjoyed it a lot. Big thanks to the team for that. It was awesome. This year we had a lot of difficulties coming upon us, but in the last two or three rounds, we managed to bounce back, improving quite a lot in qualy. We ended up P2, vice-champions, which is not bad, and I’m happy about it. Unfortunately, it’s not champions, but we lost too much in the beginning, and it was too difficult to recover. However, it has been a lovely season, with a lot of good things and I really enjoyed it. I want to congratulate Oscar for his season. It’s now time for me to move forward. Thank you guys, it’s been a pleasure!”
Qualifying: P4
Starting grid Race 1: P7
Starting grid Race 2: P7
Starting grid Race 3: P4
Fastest Lap: 1:35.360
Race 1: P4
Race 2: P2
Race 3: P5
#2 OSCAR PIASTRI
“The year’s done, ended it with a win, which is the best way to do it. It was a good race, eventful before it even started, getting crashed in the pit lane, but it finished the way we wanted to, and that’s the most important thing. I couldn’t be happier really, thank you to the team for an awesome two years.”
Qualifing: P1
Starting grid Race 1: P10
Starting grid Race 2: P8
Starting grid Race 2: P1
Fastest Lap: 1:35.077
Race 1: P3
Race 2: DNF
Race 3: P1
Source | Photo: PREMA Racing