F2 & F3 Spielberg Preview
FIA F2 Championship, Spielberg, Race Preview
It is finally time to go racing! The FIA Formula 2 Championship will be back in action this coming weekend at the Austrian Red Bull Ring circuit with the series becoming more prominent than ever in motorsport competition. Team Trident and its two drivers, Roy Nissany and Marino Sato, are set for a challenging season.
The green lands of Styria, home to the Red Bull Ring and perched in the beautiful Austrian countryside, more than 700 meters above sea level, will welcome the FIA Formula 2 Championship for the opening round of what is expected to become a spectacular season. The F2 cars stopped running at the end of March, after the completion of the series' collective preseason test at Al Sakhir in Bahrain, and with such a long pause finally coming to an end, teams and drivers will have to regain their utmost reactivity both in terms of technical choices and driving. The contenders will need to get quickly back to their usual working pace, keeping maximum efficiency for the known procedures while adapting to the protocols needed to manage the risks coming from the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, drivers will have to promptly regain their references on-track. The venue is one of the shortest of the year, measuring 4.3 kilometres and featuring only 10 corners. Keeping the pace there requires perfection and every tiny mistake becomes highly impacting. It will surely be a tough challenge for Israeli racer Roy Nissany, who is coming back to full-time racing after one season. The 25-year-old from Telaviv, who is also serving as the third driver of Williams in Formula 1, will be back in action too. In the previous season, he only took part in five test days. In the 2020 preseason test, Nissany secured the 17th fastest lap showing promising progress. Marino Sato, a 20-year-old from Yokohama, has won the 2019 Euroformula Open title and entered six Formula 2 races last year. He is also expected to put up improvement throughout his maiden season.
Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager:
“We are motivated for the season opener, which comes at the end of a long and unprecedented break. The team prepared well for the new health procedures and protocols that were introduced. It was essential to get started again, and we prepared Spielberg's race as efficiently as ever. The team is ready to perform and help the drivers to grow up, and achieve the goals they have set. The first races of the season always offer many opportunities and surprises, we need to be ready should the right opportunity arise".
FIA Formula 3 Championship, Spielberg, Race Preview.
Coming from a fifth place in the 2019 season, Team Trident is set for a new challenge in a series that has traditionally seen its drivers among the key contenders. For 2020, the Italian squad will feature a three-driver lineup featuring David Beckmann, Olli Caldwell and Lirim Zendeli.
The countdown for the opening round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship has almost come to an end. The series is ready to return on-track this weekend to provide a great show at the scenic Red Bull Ring venue in Spielberg. The Austrian track has been a yearly Formula 1 feature since 2014, the year it went back hosting the Austrian Grand Prix. It is very complicated to make predictions ahead of the championship opener. A tenth of a second per lap is decisive, and every little detail can make the difference, affecting the outcome of a whole race weekend. Team Trident will face the new season with a competitive and well-sorted line-up. David Beckmann, returning to the Team Trident fold after scoring three wins, four podiums and two pole positions in the 2018 GP3 Series, wants to regain momentum and continue his march towards Formula 1 after a year in the which could not achieve the goals he had set. For Lirim Zendeliit will be the second season in the series. After a positive debut, the Bochum-born driver is expected to make a leap forward and fight at the top of the category. As for Olli Caldwell, who made his debut with Team Trident last November at the Macau Grand Prix, this will be the first run in the regular championship. For sure, the talented Brit has everything it takes to impress. The Team Trident drivers prepared the trip Austria with great attention and precision, supported by the technical staff, in an effort to start with a convincing performance.
Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager:
"The Red Bull Ring will be the home of the opening round for the 2020 FIA Formula 3 Championship, which has become a new benchmark in motor racing with a high density of outstanding drivers and an impressive level of competition. To continue being among the contenders of a series that gave us so many satisfactions in the past, we will need to be perfect. The 2020 line-up is definitely up to the game. We have all the needed ingredients for a good season. Now we have to work hard to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves.
"The engines of the FIA Formula 2 Championship cars will come to life on Friday at 12:55 with the first free practice session. Qualifying is set for the same day at 17:00. The Feature Race will start on Saturday at 16:45, while the Sprint Race is scheduled for Sunday at 11:10. The GP3 Series teams will start on Friday morning with the practice session scheduled at 9:35. Qualifications will be later the same day at 14:05. The Feature Race is scheduled for Saturday at 10:25, while the Sprint Race is scheduled for Sunday at 9:45. As usual, all the track action will be followed live by the Sky Sports network.