06/07/2017
NEWS STORY
The FIA Formula 2 Championship turns this week to the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria for the shortest, and highest, circuit on the calendar in what promises to be a dramatic 2 races for the entire field. The track, high in the Alps with a substantial elevation change to test the drivers, is a firm favourite of fans, who can see the entire circuit from the top of the track and who are always rewarded with dramatic races around the tight, twisty circuit.
Round 4 saw Charles Leclerc (PREMA Racing) storm back after a disappointing Monaco round to grab a firm hold on the top of the drivers' championship, ahead of Oliver Rowland (DAMS) and Artem Markelov (RUSSIAN TIME): pole, two fastest laps, feature race win and second
in the sprint race meant the Monegasque man missed a perfect weekend by a handful of seconds when a 10s time penalty in the sprint allowed Norman Nato (Pertamina Arden) to grab the race 2 honours.
In the teams' championship RUSSIAN TIME holds a narrow lead of just 3 points over DAMS, with PREMA rounding out the top 3. All ten teams have scored points and will be looking to add to their total on a tricky circuit which has traditionally been attritional, with all of them working hard ahead of their arrival on the set ups they hope will allow them to bring home some silverware at the first of three races on the calendar this month.
Mario Isola, Pirelli: "Just like in Formula 1, we have selected the softest compounds in the ranges for Austria: soft and supersoft. This is the natural choice for a circuit where the demands on the tyres are relatively low, the third such circuit in a row for Formula 2 after Monaco and Baku."
Notes
There are 3 driver changes for this round: Alexander Albon returns from injury with ART Grand Prix in car 8, Trident welcomes back Raffaele
Marciello in car 17 replacing Sergio Canamasas, who moves to Rapax in car 19.
At least one DAMS driver has been featured on the podium in every round so far this season.
Bar Monaco, Leclerc's worst race result so far is P4 (Barcelona Sprint Race).
Leclerc has finished outside of the points twice (2 DNFs in Monaco). The same goes for Rowland (P9 in Monaco Sprint Race and DNF in
Baku Sprint Race).
Artem Markelov failed to score points in only one race (Barcelona Sprint Race). The same goes for teammate Luca Ghiotto (P16 in Baku Feature
Race).
After Round 4, all teams have scored points in the Championship.
RUSSIAN TIME are the only team without a DNF.
Team Standings prior to Austria
| Pos | Name | Nat | Team | Points |
| 1 | Leclerc | MON | Prema Racing | 122 |
| 2 | Rowland | GBR | DAMS | 80 |
| 3 | Markelov | RUS | Russian Time | 76 |
| 4 | Ghiotto | ITA | Russian Time | 57 |
| 5 | Latifi | CAN | DAMS | 53 |
| 6 | Matsushita | JPN | ART Grand Prix | 50 |
| 7 | King | GBR | MP Motorsport | 45 |
| 8 | de Vries | NED | Rapax | 45 |
| 9 | Nato | FRA | Pertamina Arden | 43 |
| 10 | Albon | THA | ART Grand Prix | 37 |
| 11 | Malja | SWE | Racing Engineering | 28 |
| 12 | Cecotto | VEN | Rapax | 16 |
| 13 | Sirotkin | RUS | ART Grand Prix | 7 |
| 14 | Boschung | SUI | Campos Racing | 4 |
| 15 | Canamasas | GBR | Trident | 3 |
| 16 | Fuoco | ITA | Prema Racing | 2 |
Team Standings prior to Austria
| Pos | Team | Points |
| 1 | Russian Time | 133 |
| 2 | DAMS | 133 |
| 3 | Prema Racing | 124 |
| 4 | ART Grand Prix | 94 |
| 5 | Rapax | 61 |
| 6 | MP Motorsport | 45 |
| 7 | Pertamina Arden | 43 |
| 8 | Racing Engineering | 28 |
| 9 | Campos Racing | 4 |
| 10 | Trident | 3 |