Boschung collected his second podium in the FIA Formula 2 Championship by finishing third at Yas Marina Circuit. The Swiss racer scored more points on Sunday in his Campos Racing-run Dallara. Briton Caldwell made more progress with fastest lap in race 1
The final round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship saw another strong performance coming from Campos Racing as the Spanish team secured another podium finish thanks to Ralph Boschung. Boschung showed excellent pace throughout the weekend and made it a second rostrum finish in a row for Campos Racing. Olli Caldwell made another clear step forward and, following his debut in Jeddah, the Briton has gained speed and race trim in Abu Dhabi.
On Friday, Boschung proved his excellent form and posted the 4th-fastest lap time during morning practice session. The Swiss driver clocked a time of 1m37.299s after completing 22 laps. Caldwell’s best lap time was a 1m38.538s, a promising start for his first race weekend at Yas Marina with a Formula 2 car. Later in qualifying, Boschung got involved in a close battle for the pole position. After the first round of hot laps, Boschung was in second with a lap time of 1m35.750s. Later, with the second set of tires, the Swiss driver still further improved and clocked a lap time of 1m35.496s. When the session came to an end, Boschung secured 5th on the grid for Sunday. Further adrift, Caldwell set a lap time of 1m36.570s to start from row ten.
With Boschung lining up sixth on the reverse starting grid for Saturday’s sprint race 1, there were chances for fighting for points-paying positions. Boschung took a patient approach on the opening lap to avoid any clash or incident. After five laps, the Swiss driver was running in 8th place behind Théo Pourchaire and ahead of Guanyu Zhou. The driver defending the Campos Racing colors finally crossed the finish line in ninth place, which secured a front row start in the afternoon. Caldwell, who was forced to pit to change his damaged front nose, finished in 20th place but impressively scored the fastest lap of the race.
In the afternoon, Boschung kept his second place at the start with Chinese Zhou moving past him on lap four taking advantage from DRS. A safety car was deployed on lap 5 as Alessio Deledda made contact with Caldwell, with the latter being able to continue. Shortly after, another safety car was deployed as Oscar Piastri and Juri Vips also had a clash but Boschung always remained in podium places until the end. After 23 laps, the Swiss driver took the checkered flag in third place behind Zhou and Robert Shwartzman. Caldwell lapped extremely fast at the end finishing in 15th place after overtaking Marino Sato.
The weekend and the season came to an end on Sunday with a 33-lap length feature race with mandatory pit stop. The Swiss driver started on the soft compound with his teammate Caldwell choosing the medium one. Boschung ran in sixth place after the first lap when Jack Doohan spun out and ended up in the wall, which brought out the safety car. On lap 8, Boschung had moved up to third and lapped in competitive lap times behind Piastri and Zhou, making his mandatory pit stop for fresh tires just one tour later. Caldwell’s pit stop came much later. The Briton lapped under the 1m40s barrier on lap 23 and with seven laps to go headed into the pit lane for the set of soft tires. Boschung, who lost valuable seconds in traffic behind the likes of Liam Lawson or Dan Ticktum, still kept his rivals at bay to finish in ninth place and adding to further points to his tally. Caldwell finished in 17th place.
After eight rounds, Boschung concluded the 2021 season lying in tenth place in the drivers’ standings on 59.5 points. Campos Racing occupied 7th position in the teams’ standings on 66.5 points.
With no time to rest, Campos Racing will take part in FIA Formula 2’s official post-season test held at Yas Marina Circuit on 16-18 December. Stay tuned!
Photo: © Dutch Photo Agency
