Antonelli claims maiden Feature Race win for PREMA Racing
Kimi Antonelli delivered his second win in as many FIA Formula 2 events and his first Feature Race win today at Hungaroring for PREMA Racing. The Italian started on Prime tyres and had an extremely positive getaway, showing great pace by gaining positions and becoming the leading driver with his strategy.
When an early safety car benefitted those who had started on Options, allowing them to pit under caution, it all seemed lost to bad luck, but a further neutralization enabled the Prime starters to jump back to pit-lane.
Antonelli restarted from P5 with Options, but sliced through the field in spectacular fashion to take the lead and disappeared in the distance, managing his softer tyres to perfection and finishing with more than 12 seconds of margin.
Unfortunately, teammate Ollie Bearman was on the opposite end of the strategy, and, starting from P14, he stopped for Primes with the first safety car. That meant that by the time the second restart came with ten minutes to go on the clock, he was a sitting duck for the competitors on Options. He eventually finished in P15.
#3 OLLIE BEARMAN
"First of all, congrats to Kimi, it's great to see a red car on top. He did a great job and executed a perfect race. On my side, it was a bit more difficult, we struggled a bit. The car was really really fast, we just were stuck for the whole race. I couldn't overtake, and in the end, when the second safety car came, I was getting overtaken by everyone on the new option tyers. A bit unlucky I would say, but that's F2. We go again in Spa!"
#4 KIMI ANTONELLI
"It's an amazing result and I'm really happy. It's special, as special as Silverstone because we had a great pace and really deserved it. Eventually, some luck came back our way with a safety car in the end even if at the start we were unlucky with that. We managed everything very well, I'm delighted for the team and for Pedro, my Engineer, as well. It's a result we needed and I'm proud of the work we are doing. Today it was a big turning point. We never give up and we are moving in the right direction. Hopefully, we can carry the momentum into Spa, but let's enjoy this!"