PREMA clinches 2021 FIA F2 Team Championship

PREMA Racing mathematically clinched the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Team Championship with a 1-2 finish today at Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Starting from the front row, 20-year-old Australian Oscar Piastri took victory from pole in front of team-mate Robert Shwartzman as the Feature Race was shortened to only 5 laps. 

Barrier repairs from the previous race delayed the start of the session at the beginning, and as the lights went off, a horrific crash involving Theo Pourchaire and Enzo Fittipaldi led to a lengthy red flag. The race restarted on a reduced 20-minute + 1 lap distance, but another red flag eventually stopped the action for good.

As a result, Piastri secured his fifth win of 2021 and his second of the Saudi Arabian weekend, albeit with half points awarded. He is now holding a comfortable lead heading into the Abu Dhabi finale, with 22-year-old Shwartzman chasing him in second place.

While the team looks forward to the series finale, everyone at PREMA Racing wishes Fittipaldi and Pourchaire a speedy recovery.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t race much today. It’s been a chaotic race, starting with a delay, and then we got a red flag, with both drivers luckily OK. Restarting the race, we knew that it would have been half points. I just tried to stay close behind Oscar, my goal was to push for the pit stop and hopefully to gain the position there. Then it was a safety car and a red flag again. Maybe without that red flag, we could have got that position on the following lap at the pit-stop, but you never know, and this time, it ended up like this, with P2 and half points. Still, we collected a decent amount of points. Now we must focus on the final round of the championship. The goal is to do a good job like this weekend, a good qualy and three good races to finish in the highest spot we can. Congrats to PREMA. It’s the fourth time that we take the team championship together, they really proved that they are the best, and I’m happy to be part of it.” 

Qualifying: P2

Starting Grid Race 1: P9

Starting Grid Race 2: P6

Starting Grid Race 3: P2

Fastest Lap: 1:41.043

Race 1: P5

Race 2: P3

Race 3: P2

“It was a very short race. First of all, I’m happy that everybody is going to be okay from the crash. I had a good start and held off Robert. Then I managed the restart, as well as the few racing laps we did. Congratulations to the team on winning the Team Championship. That’s the biggest positive out of today. Now we are going to Abu Dhabi, the points gap for me is looking quite good, so it’s time to have some fun in the last round.”

Qualifing: P1

Starting Grid Race 1: P10

Starting Grid Race 2: P3

Starting Grid Race 3: P1

Fastest Lap: 1:40.878

Race 1: P8

Race 2: P1

Race 2: P1

 

Source | Photo: PREMA Racing