The Briton driver made it to the finish in both races on his debut in the Monegasque streets during a weekend in which has been about making no mistakes. Swiss Boschung was forced to withdraw after que qualifying session as his neck pain persisted
The Monaco round is always one of the hardest events on the annual FIA Formula 2 Championship calendar and 2022 proved not to be any different. Campos Racing arrived in high spirits but unfortunately it wasn’t possible translate it into results. Anyway, Briton Olli Caldwell made a promising debut in Monaco, which was completely new to him, finishing both races and gaining valuable experience on one of the most difficult street circuits on the world. Unfortunately, Ralph Boschung’s neck issues forced him to withdraw from this weekend once again. Despite his start to the weekend was excellent, the Swiss driver couldn’t take part in none of the races.
On Thursday, Boschung clocked a lap time of 1m21.591s, second-fastest in the timesheets and a mere two thousandths of a second slower that free practice pace-setter Felipe Drugovich. Caldwell’s first taste of Monaco produced a best lap of 1m24.843s. During qualifying session on Friday, which was separated in odds and evens, Boschung posted a best lap time of 1m21.859s. But his neck issues soon proved that he couldn’t go further than Friday. In Group B, Caldwell set a best lap of 1m23.498s.
Caldwell took a cautious approach on Saturday, the 30-lap sprint race. From the beginning, Caldwell moved through the field over the course of the race. With almost no chances to complete a clean overtaking, Caldwell focused on avoiding any mistake and take advantage from rivals’ errors. At the end, the Briton took the checkered flag in 16th place.
On Sunday, with second 42-lap Feature race with mandatory stop, Caldwell chose to start on the soft compound. As expected, it was an incident-marred race that brought the safety car out several times. Caldwell made his mandatory pit stop on lap 8 and made it to the finish in 15th place with a solid pace.
The sixth round of the season will take place in two weeks’ time visiting another street circuit but of a very different nature: the ultrafast Baku circuit.
