PREMA caps Baku weekend with Feature Race podium
PREMA Racing captured its second podium of the weekend today in the FIA Formula 2 Championship Feature Race at Baku City Circuit. Starting from the front row, Kimi Antonelli took home third place, surviving an eventful and drama-filled race right from the start, which included a red flag for a multi-car contact on the start line. The Italian took off on Supersoft tyres and soon moved to softs.
Fighting with a competitor exiting the pits on cold tyres for the second position, Antonelli got contact damage on the front suspension. Despite the ill-handling car, he secured the final place on the podium.
Coming from a remarkable debut podium in Race 1, Gabriele Minì had an impressive run in the Feature Race, showing excellent pace and tyre management skills. Unfortunately, he fell victim to the unforgiving nature of the track, carrying too much speed into a corner and running into the barriers.
#3 GABRIELE MINÌ
"There are many positives from this race. We were quite quick, and we were among the latest to pit, so we were pretty good in tyre management. It's a shame we lost a bit on the stop, and that didn't allow me to exit the pits in front of the group. I was really really quick, I did some fastest laps in a row. Then I just carried too much speed in and I went into the wall. It's a shame to end like that but we focus on the positives, like the pace that was really good not having any prior test."
#4 KIMI ANTONELLI
"A pretty messy feature race. It was interrupted by a big crash at the start, but fortunately, everyone is OK. I struggled a little bit with the pace on supersofts, but then on softs, I felt much better with the car so I was able to gain one more position. Unfortunately, then I had contact with another car fighting for P2, bending the front suspension, which made our life quite a bit harder because the car was pulling on one side under braking. Overall I'm happy to come away with P3, still a good result, and I'm happy for the team because we have been showing good pace during the whole weekend. We just need to keep working this way."