Red Bull F1 training Ayumu Iwasa won the 3rd place podium in the 12th round of the FIA F2 Championship Dutch feature race. Her series ranking rose to sixth.
Round 12 of the FIA Formula 2 Championship, the Netherlands, featured a feature race on the 4th (Sun). Ayumu Iwasa, who qualified 5th, started from 5th on the 3rd row. At 10:20 am, the formation lap started in dry conditions with an air temperature of 21.4°C and a track temperature of 21.7°C.
Ayumu Iwasa, who got off to a good start and allowed the trailing car to pass, was forced to maintain his 5th position when the car in front ran off the course at the first corner. After the machine that went off course returned to the course, it went off course again and crashed into the barrier, and the safety car (SC) was introduced. After two laps of the SC leading the way, the race was red-flagged due to the time required to repair the barriers, and all cars returned to the pits after completing four laps.
The race was suspended for about 20 minutes to replace the damaged barrier, and from the 5th lap the race was restarted with a rolling start after the SC took the lead. At the end of the 10th lap, the machines that started on soft tires began to pit, and Ayumu Iwasa also made a pit stop on the 13th lap and changed to hard tires. Ayumu Iwasa, who returned to the race in 12th position, fought a fierce battle with a machine with the same strategy and moved up in position, rising to 4th place among the machines adopting the same strategy. After that, one car in front made a pit stop, and Ayumu Iwasa was 10th.
On the 18th lap while running in 10th place, a machine went off the track and stopped, and the SC was introduced again. After leading for four laps, the race resumed on the 22nd lap, but the leading car’s acceleration was sluggish, and the following cars were confused and an accident occurred. Several cars crashed around Iwasa, and the third SC was introduced. Iwasa dodged this accident and moved up to 9th position. When the race resumed on the 26th lap, the machines that had not yet changed tires began to pit, and by the time all cars had completed their pit stops on the 29th lap, Iwasa was in 3rd place.
Ayumu Iwasa is approaching within 1 second behind 2nd place, but it is difficult to overtake on a course where it is difficult to overtake, and he repeats laps. Ayumu Iwasa fought hard until the end and aimed to improve his position, but the race ended after 38 laps with a time limit of 1 hour. Ayumu Iwasa finished 3rd, his fifth podium finish of the season.
Ayumu Iwasa, who added 15 points in this race, has risen to 6th in the series ranking with a total of 114 points.
“Overall, I think it was a good race,” commented Ayumu Iwasa.
“The start and pit stop were good, and the pace was good. Compared to the sprint race, my following (when I got behind) was a little worse, but it was more about the start than the setting of the machine. I think it’s one of the things we need to improve, because of the tire warm-up issues before and during the SC.”
We knew that the accident at the restart was a risk in such a situation, so we took a margin. Even so, it was just barely.”
“At the end of the race, we tried to increase our pace and try to pass, but even though we were ahead of the pack, it was still difficult to pass. There was no speed difference as much as when I overtook at .
“I would like to focus on the race in front of me without worrying too much about the series ranking.
