“Full Send” is Frederik Vesti’s policy as he enters into the crucial stages of the FIA Formula 2 Championship title fight at Monza.

The Danish driver led the Championship for large periods of the year, but now trails Théo Pourchaire by 9 points. A Sprint Race win in Monza helped reduce that gap, but with the Frenchman starting the Feature Race on pole, it could swing away from him once again.

He showed his intentions right from the start of the Sprint Race, launching off the grid, going three-wide and taking advantage of Ralph Boschung’s error to line up a run on Richard Verschoor which would see him take the race lead – which he then held to the chequered flag.

Speaking after the Sprint Race, he said: “My mindset on the grid was to focus on the start, where you can gain quite a lot in F2. I saw that Boschung locked up so I tried to keep focus on my line, and was able to get a really good exit.”

Despite a respectable performance in Qualifying, lining up P8 in the Feature Race is not what the Prema driver would have wanted, with his rival so far ahead. He will need another good start to challenging Pourchaire, and is determined not to make it easy.

He said: “The mindset is full send, it’s attack – and I need to because I’m 9 points behind Théo now and if I want to win the Championship I need to take risks and move forward.

“That’s the good part about racing and I think that’s what all drivers love to do, so I’m happy to do that.”

The Mercedes Junior driver has not been able to finish either of the last two Feature Races, during which time Pourchaire took a vital double-podium in Spa, helping him back to the top of the standings.

Vesti will need a very good race to make sure he can arrive at the final round in Abu Dhabi with a real chance of being crowned Formula 2 Champion.

Image: Formula Motorsport Limited