Trident Motorsport Team Manager Giacomo Ricci has blamed poor qualifying for Saturday’s disappointing FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race result in Hungary, Round 10 of the championship.
MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger won the Sprint Race, his second victory of the season.
Drivers Clement Novalak and Roman Stanek qualified 15th and 22nd in Friday’s session, in which Invicta Virtuosi driver Jack Doohan scored his first pole of 2023.
Ricci bemoaned the fact that qualifying dictated the running order during the Sprint, saying his drivers “did not shine”.
“The fact that our drivers did not shine in qualifying negatively affected their Sprint Race,” he said.
Overtaking around the Hungaroring in Budapest is historically difficult, however, there were some bold overtakes in Saturday’s Sprint Race from the likes of Théo Pourchaire and Oliver Bearman.
But Ricci’s drivers made little progress, thanks to a DRS (Drag Reduction System) train.
French driver Novalak lost a position during the race, before making contact with Campos driver Ralph Boschung on lap 12, which led to his retirement.
The former MP Motorsport driver locked the rear brakes when attempting to pass his Swiss rival. The collision earnt Novalak a five-place grid drop for Sunday’s Feature Race.
On the other side of the garage, Czech driver Stanek recovered to 16th, after crashing out of qualifying, meaning he started the Sprint Race from last position.
2023 continues to be a challenging year for the Italian team, who’ve picked up just 13 points this season. Indeed, F2 rookie Stanek has so far outscored his more experienced teammate, with a best finish of seventh in the Feature Race Monaco.
Novalak did finish third in Austria’s Sprint Race, but was later disqualified, losing him and the team valuable championship points.
Sunday’s Feature Race will see the Trident pair start from 20th and 22nd respectively, thanks to Novalak’s penalty.
Image: Formula Motorsport Ltd
