F2 Talk: Matsushita and Aitken Shine as Leaders Faulter

After the tragedy of Spa-Francorchamps, it was always going to be tough to return to racing. Not only for the F1 circus, but especially for the FIA Formula 2 Championship. Both BWT Arden and the Sauber Junior Team ran a single car this weekend for Anthoine Hubert and Juan Manuel Correa respectively.

Correa’s teammate Callum Ilott took pole on Friday and considering how the Brit was Hubert’s teammate last season during his victorious GP3 campaign, the result seemed all the more poignant.

It was clear though that this wasn’t going to be a weekend for big four up front. Nyck de Vries was excluded from qualifying, Luca Ghiotto had only qualified 13th and despite it being a golden opportunity for the DAMS pair, both fell backwards during the races. Instead it was Carlin’s Nobuharu Matsushita taking the Feature Race crown as Jack Aitken held off a six car train in the Sprint Race to claim the second win.

De Vries Puts one Hand on the Title

With Giuliano Alesi’s car impounded as part of the ongoing FIA investigation, the Frenchman took Ralph Boschung’s car for the event, further decreasing the number of entries to 17. After being disqualified from qualifying for a fuel infringement. De Vries was forced to start at the back, but surprised everyone with his drive to third across the line. He wasn’t the only one as Ghiotto leaped up to second on the alternative strategy from 13th on the grid.

The championship may be all but over, but De Vries is again living up to his habit of making the most of bad weekends. It was a point I raised in an earlier article, but should De Vries be passed up for an F1 drive next season it will be a real loss for a driver who has not only proven to be quick, but a rapid overtaker. Ghiotto similarly, was unfortunate to miss out on the GP3 title to Esteban Ocon and since his 2015 campaign, has easily proven himself to be one of series most prolific racers.

This is in contrast to Nicholas Latifi, the one driver who could realistically get an F1 seat next season. There is no denying the Canadian’s raw pace, though Monza was yet another sub-par performance from a driver under serious pressure, failing to score a single point. Unlike De Vries he could not hide behind a poor qualifying, running into trouble during both races. As a result, the DAMS driver will need to close in by 12 points in Sochi, just to prevent the Dutchman from taking the title a round early.

In contrast, the focus could now shift to the battle for second as just 15 points seperate Latifi, Ghiotto, Aitken and Camara. Latifi’s dismall weekend might be well documented, but a bad round overall for DAMS, in which both cars failed to score during the Sprint Race, the first time it’s happened this year, the pressure is on to hit back in Russia. Many will expect Camara and Latifi to do so, but with momentum shifting to Ghiotto and Aitken, runner up could yet be far from settled.

Matsushita shines on a Dull Weekend for Honda

So after the chaos surrounding the regular top five, it was Nobuharu Matsushita who picked up his second Feature Race victory. Despite his weekend being slightly tainted by a 5 second penalty in the Sprint Race (dropping him from third to fifth in the results) he still picked 31 points, more than any other driver last weekend.

This came during the first F1 race that Red Bull (and Honda) failed to finish inside the top five all year. With both Red Bull and Toro Rosso running Honda engines and the Japanese manufacture favouring native drivers, a move up may still be on the cards for Matsushita. He made it clear this was his aim at the start of the year and would be out to collect the super licence points. Speaking during the summer break he said to Motorsport.com;

“[Honda] keep supporting me, and obviously I need to make results, that’s the key. But they are wholly supporting me. My goal is to be fourth in the championship. I mean, third or fourth, because I need to get superlicense points” – Nobuharu Matsushita

After Italy, he sits sixth and although fourth place Jack Aitken is 37 points in front, Matsushita is the only driver (other than De Vries) to finished in the points consistently since Austria. While the start of his season would not have done his repuation any favours, leaving the third round with just six overall points, since then, he has not finished outside the top ten, becoming one of the championships most notorious points finishers.

Of course to reach fourth he’ll have to catch a number of front running drivers like Jack Aitken, securing his third win of the year in a Sprint Race that he almost didn’t want to lead.

Jack Aitken Succeeds to set up Four-Way Battle for Vice-Champion

The Campos driver had started on reverse grid pole but faced stiff competition remaining up front in the Sprint Race. After failing to break away enough, he was immediately hunted down by Jordan King, pulling off the move into the first chicane.

Race One polesitter Ilott would join the British parade as Aitken retook the lead on the VSC restart. King attempted to switch back at the next chicane, but ran over the kerbs allowing Ilott through as Aitken kept his lead despite missing the corner. Ilott’s golden weekend would not be replicated though as the Charouz driver locked up on the final lap, spinning in the first corner run-off.

His shredded tyre allowed him to limp home out of the points with Aitken beating King, De Vries, Guan Yu Zhou, Matsushita and Mick Schumacher all by under 10 seconds.

It was proof of the Renault Development drivers maturity, as Ferrari prodigy Ilott will have a lot of explaining to do as he threw away his chance at a second podium of the season. Elsewhere, race one hero Ghiotto collided with Sergio Sette Camara, virtually ended both of their title chances as the pair diced with De Vries who got away scot-free.

The unique high speed drag racing style of the circuit produced havoc during both the F1 and F3 qualifying sessions and while not as much a concern for F2 quali, still proved valuable during the races as proved in the Sprint Race as Schumacher set fastest lap while closing in on the leaders.

Expectations for Russia

With Spa only allowing us a brief glimpse of the teams pecking order post-summer break, Italy could yet prove an outlier thanks to its high speed nature. However, De Vries will take confidence that in both rounds he’s been competitive in qualifying, taking pole at Spa (though did not record the points.)

Comparatively, Latifi has failed to break into the top six at both rounds, while Ghiotto hasn’t been within the nine. Camara has proven to be the best qualifier other than the Dutchman, with a second and fifth not producing the finishing position such grid spots should produce. The surprise and threat though will be Matsushita; Fourth at Spa and sixth at Monza could see him continue his form.

Sochi of course is another circuit with long straights, but a tighter infield will likely make the result more similar to Spa. If that is the case, pressure will be on the UNI-Virtuosi pair to perform and an early title for De Vries could await.