Louis recovers strongly at Formula 2 opener in Bahrain
Rookie driver Louis Delétraz felt he showed some strong pace and learned some important lessons at the opening round of the 2017 FIA F2 Championship season in Bahrain this weekend.
The 19-year-old lined up for only the second F2 race weekend of his career at the Sakhir International circuit – a track that is notoriously tough on Pirelli’s slick tyres due to the abrasive surface and high temperatures.
Louis placed his Racing Engineering car in P14 on the grid for Saturday’s first race and was excited about using the pace he had shown during qualifying to push himself into the point-scoring positions. However, an uncharacteristic error on the start line meant his #3 car stalled and he had to re-join the race from the pit lane.
“It was my mistake,” the Swiss driver openly admitted. “I had only good starts during the winter testing and everything was very clear when I came to the grid. Unfortunately, there was a lot of grip on the track and I didn’t put enough throttle down. I got away for the first few metres but then the engine stalled. It was a stupid mistake and I was very angry with myself.”
By the time he re-joined the one-hour race, Louis found himself a lap down on the leaders. But that didn’t stop the ADS Securities-supported driver from trying to turn a negative situation into a positive one.
“It was the first race of the weekend and even if I did find myself at the back of the field, I knew there was still something I could learn from the situation,” he said. “I used the race to further improve my understanding of the Pirelli tyres and to show my F2 pace.”
And that’s what Louis did. On the ‘prime’ rubber, his lap times were comfortably inside the top-ten places and when he switched to the softer ‘option’ tyres later in the race, Louis pulled well clear of race leader Artem Markelov who was following behind on the track.
Having taken some big positives from the first F2 race, Louis lined up for today’s second race in optimistic mood. Although he started as the last car on the grid for the 45-minute encounter, Louis made up six places on the opening lap of the 5.4km track before the Safety Car was deployed to remove Norman Nato’s stricken car on lap two.
Louis fought hard to try and move even further up the leader board as the race drew towards its conclusion but he had to settle for P12 at the chequered flag.
He said: “I had a good start and the first lap was very strong. I got from P19 up to P13 after overtaking many cars in the braking zone on the inside and outside. The Safety Car stopped me going any further but that lap felt great!
“After the Safety Car, it was really like a waiting race and we were all trying to save our tyres. I think with the set-up we had something a bit wrong with the ‘prime’ tyres because we had a bit of understeer with the fronts and that meant I killed the rears by trying to rotate the car with more throttle. I tried to be very careful in the beginning and then the tyres lost their performance close to the end.”
Despite the first event of the F2 season being more frustrating than he would have liked, Louis is already looking ahead to the second round of the series at Barcelona (12-14 May) where he hopes his F2 pace will be rewarded.
“I definitely learned a lot this weekend and I think my pace was good and very close to the leading guys,” he said. “I think if we want to be running at the front we need to improve a little more with the ‘prime’ tyres but we know what we can do to find that pace. I think Barcelona will be better for us.”
