27/07/2017
NEWS STORY
Round 7 sees the teams arrive at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary for the second half of the 2017 FIA Formula 2 Championship, with the halfway point passed in race 2 at Silverstone 2 weeks ago. The tight, twisty circuit is well known to the drivers and teams alike, having all raced there previously. Qualifying is more important than ever, given the difficulty in overtaking under race conditions, with all of the grid looking to find a way to stop championship leader bagging yet another pole position.
Silverstone saw the Monegasque driver extend his lead further in the championship after setting the pace all weekend long: Leclerc topped free practice on Thursday before claiming a strong pole position, setting the fastest lap by over four tenths from Oliver Rowland and Norman Nato, before sprinting to his 5th win of the season in the feature race well ahead of the race long squabble between Nato and Rowland.
In the sprint race Nicholas Latifi bagged his maiden win from pole position with a solid, mature drive to victory ahead of RUSSIAN TIME teammates Luca Ghiotto and Artem Markelov to set to rest any ghosts lingering from his Barcelona efforts: DAMS teammate Rowland tried to hold back the Russian at the last lap safety car restart but was denied, with Markelov easily nipping past for a podium, with the Briton picking up a time penalty for his efforts.
Mario Isola, Pirelli: "Although the speeds are relatively low, the Hungaroring works the tyres hard throughout the lap. This has been considered with our selections of the medium and soft compounds for Formula 2, with the intention that as usual drivers will have to display some degree of tyre management: an important skill for them to learn on the way to Formula 1. It could also help to create close racing at a circuit where overtaking is not easy."
Santino Ferrucci moves up from the GP3 Series to FIA Formula 2 with Trident in car 17. The American is the latest driver in the championship to have links to a Formula 1 team, continuing his development role with Haas F1 for a second year.
Following Round 7 there will be a mid-season Formula 1 test, on 1-2 August. 7 Formula 2 drivers will be taking part: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Nicholas Latifi (Renault), Luca Ghiotto (Williams), Gustav Malja (Sauber), Nobuharu Matsushita (Sauber), Sean Gelael (Toro Rosso) and Santino Ferrucci (Haas).
The Budapest round is the last round of the championship before the traditional mid-season break: the next round will be in Spa-Francorchamps on 25-27 August.
Driver Standings
| Pos | Name | Nat | Team | Points |
| 1 | Leclerc | MON | Prema Racing | 188 |
| 2 | Markelov | RUS | Russian Time | 121 |
| 3 | Rowland | GBR | DAMS | 117 |
| 4 | Latifi | CAN | DAMS | 91 |
| 5 | Ghiotto | ITA | Russian Time | 86 |
| 6 | Nato | FRA | Pertamina Arden | 67 |
| 7 | Matsushita | JPN | ART Grand Prix | 66 |
| 8 | Albon | THA | ART Grand Prix | 59 |
| 9 | King | GBR | MP Motorsport | 49 |
| 10 | de Vries | NED | Rapax | 47 |
| 11 | Malja | SWE | Racing Engineering | 28 |
| 12 | Fuoco | ITA | Prema Racing | 23 |
| 13 | Canamasas | ESP | Rapax/Trident | 21 |
| 14 | Cecotto | VEN | Rapax | 16 |
| 15 | Boschung | SUI | Campos Racing | 11 |
| 16 | Sirotkin | RUS | ART Grand Prix | 9 |
| 17 | Gelael | INO | Pertamina Arden | 3 |
Team Standings
| Pos | Team | Points |
| 1 | Prema Racing | 211 |
| 2 | DAMS | 208 |
| 3 | Russian Time | 207 |
| 4 | ART Grand Prix | 134 |
| 5 | Rapax | 81 |
| 6 | Pertamina Arden | 70 |
| 7 | MP Motorsport | 49 |
| 8 | Racing Engineering | 28 |
| 9 | Campos Racing | 11 |
| 10 | Trident | 3 |