Sebastian Montoya delivered a strong performance for PREMA Racing as the Sprint Race for the FIA Formula 2 Championship was completed today at Lusail International Circuit.
The Colombian started well from the fifth place on the grid and stayed in the leading pack the whole 23-lap distance, which was neutralized by safety-car situations twice. The track's layout, which made for tough overtaking, meant that there weren't many chances to move up, and Montoya focused on staying clear of mistakes and getting good restarts. An opportunity came for him in the final lap, and he took full advantage of contact out front by moving to fourth place.
Gabriele Minì started from the 14th position and made gains during the race. However, being deep in the middle of the pack, he could not find enough space to move forward. He eventually crossed the finish line in P12.
#9 - SEBASTIAN MONTOYA
"Long race, but it was not too hot so it wasn't bad phisically. It's a fun track, but a little more fun in clean air, which I didn't have a lot of. Still, it gave us a very good idea on what to improve for tomorrow. The speed is quite good, the balance is going in the right direction. We need to look at everything from today and focus on tomorrow because the track is going to be a lot hotter and the options are going to be quite sensitive. We need to maximize that, and on the primes it's just about consistency. If we are able to overtake, we overtake, if not, we don't, and we save the tyres until a safety car comes. Happy with today, onto tomorrow!"
#10 - GABRIELE MINÌ
"I started from P14 in the Sprint Race, I got a good jump and overtook two cars. Then I lost one place in turn one, and from then on it was a pretty boring race in a DRS train. We tried to gather some data to try and gain some places tomorrow."