Jehan Daruvala 12th In F2 Rd 5 Feature Race At Silverstone

A difficult day in the office for Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala as the Indian driver finished 12th in the feature race of round 5 of the FIA Formula 2 World Championship at Silverstone. On the other side of the garage, his teammate and fellow Red Bull junior driver Yuki Tsunoda finished 6th in the end. 

 

Starting 16th, Daruvala gained a place off the line and was in a close fight for a top ten finish. But since the field spread was very close, Daruvala opted for an alternative strategy to run a long first stint before the mandatory pitstop in order to gain a tyre advantage over the conventional stoppers. 

Pitting at the end of lap 20 of 29, Daruvala lost eight seconds due to a stuck right-front tyre. With softer and fresher tyres, the Indian driver started making his way up the field. Unfortunately, since the gap to the conventional strategy runners was a bit too big, Daruvala ran out of laps to score a top 10 finish and finished in 12th position. 

On a positive note, Jehan Daruvala did achieve the fastest lap of the race. But he didn’t score the extra point since he didn’t meet the criteria of finishing in the top 10. Jehan Daruvala will start at the same grid slot for tomorrow’s 123km (21 laps) or 45-minute sprint race with Tsunoda lining up 3rd by  virtue of the top eight finishers from the feature race lining up in a reversed grid order.  

Considering how the previous round’s sprint race worked out for Jehan Daruvala who started at the same position, there’s a good chance for another strong top 10 finish. The sprint race will commence on Sunday at 2:40pm (IST) and will be streamed live on the official F1 YouTube channel.

Image Source- James Gasperotti