Boschung, who finished fourth twice in FIA F2 season-opener at Bahrain, and Caldwell will contest the second round of the 2022 season in Saudi Arabia this weekend
Campos Racing will head to Saudi Arabia for the second event of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship season, which will take place this weekend. The Spanish-based team will be looking to continue the strong momentum that has seen them score points in the first two races of the season. The Jeddah Corniche Circuit, the fastest street circuit on the calendar, will host another exciting double header round in the frame of the Formula 1 Arabian Grand Prix.
Ralph Boschung and Olli Caldwell made a strong start to the season just a few days ago. Swiss Boschung managed to put himself into podium contention over the course of the weekend. After a strong performance in qualifying, as Boschung lined up fifth on Sunday’s Feature race starting grid with his Campos Racing-run Dallara F2 2018, the Swiss driver completed a solid race to take the checkered flag in fourth place. It was a repetition of the previous day with Boschung also finishing in fourth place despite struggling with cutting power issues during the Sprint race.
Caldwell showed speed in Sakhir and the Briton ran in the top ten on Sunday. Unfortunately, racing incidents made him to drop down the order and failed to convert speed in points. Therefore, Boschung and Caldwell will be aiming to continue the positive trend this weekend with their sighs focused on points and podium finishes, if possible.
After Round 1, Boschung sits fourth on 17 points in the drivers’ standings with Campos Racing also fourth in the teams’ standings.
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit has been slightly changed in comparison with its layout in late 2021. There will be wider sight lines through corner by moving (smoother) barriers further back and the final corner has been also moved back around 1.5m. Apart from that, the 6.174-kilometer track remains the same running alongside the coast and features the identical mammoth layout of 27 corners with one of its characteristics turns being Turn 13, a 12-degree banked one! As a result of its street nature, the walls are very close to the side of the track and it leaves very narrow margin for mistakes. As seen in December, the third sector will be particularly hard for tires besides characteristic warm, humid weather.
Free practice and qualifying sessions will take place on Friday at 12.25 and 16.25 respectively. Saturday’s sprint race is scheduled at 13.30 with Sunday’s main race, which includes a mandatory pit stop for tire change, taking place at 14.55. All times are CET.
Adrián Campos (Campos Racing Team Principal): “We have already proved to be able to fight for top honors. We expect to achieve even more this time. We couldn’t score our first podium with Ralph (Boschung) in Bahrain’s Sprint race due to technical issues. But we won’t miss a new opportunity in Jeddah. I have no doubts our two drivers will deliver strong performances this weekend.”
Ralph Boschung (Campos Racing Driver of FIA Formula 2); “I’m looking forward to racing in Jeddah again where I achieved my last podium in the series so far, I have great memories from that weekend. It’s an exciting, very fast and crazy street circuit, so for sure we will have a lot of action. I’m expecting to be back on the rhythm with Campos Racing after our first promising weekend in Bahrain.”
Olli Caldwell (Campos Racing Driver of FIA Formula 2): “I feel excited to be back in Jeddah so soon after Bahrain. I was lucky enough to do the race here last year so I am excited to be back and show what I have learnt and improved on in that time.”
Photo: F1JOAN
