Jehan Daruvala only claimed one point’s position during the Round 4 of the FIA Formula 2 Championship at Silverstone.
The Indian driver set the fastest lap on his way to a 10th-place finish in the Feature Race, reaching three more points for the championship.
Daruvala said: “Today was definitely a step forward, but overall, it was certainly not the way I wanted my weekend to go. I guess we didn’t quite have the outright pace to qualify on pole, but I was 2 tenths off P4.
“A lot of people obviously have the same story, but it was very close in qualifying, and with this format, if you don’t get into the Top 10 instead of starting at the front, you end up starting 12th.
“In qualifying, after the first set, I think I was seventh or eighth, very close to P2, like 2 tenths. Then with the second set, everyone around me aborted their first laps.
“Then we went for a second lap, and there was a yellow in Stowe, and it went red before the line, but I had backed off because of the yellow and I could not improve. It’s all in hindsight, but qualifying 12th made the weekend very difficult.
“We struggled with the set-up in race 1, so we couldn’t really move forward at all.
“In race 2, I was involved in an incident. That actually helped a bit because I could drive my own pace at the back of the race, and I could work on some things for today.
“So, in the Feature Race, I extended my first set very long as the only way to get points was to go for the fastest lap.
“We achieved that and the 10th, so all in all, considering where we started and the way the weekend went, it was a positive finish.”
Daruvala will hope that he can carry on pushing when Formula 2 returns to action in September at the Italian circuit of Monza.
Image Credit: James Gasperotti
