Ralph Boshung’s opening laps in Bahrain were stunning. Both the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race and the Feature Race saw the Swiss driver launch his Campos car like a rocket, to go from P5 to second by Turn 1.

Getting the tyres up to temperature quickly, Boshung was able to keep the car on the circuit and make the moves stick:

“I had a good [Sprint Race] start and then I had pretty good pace. I was chasing Richard for the win and then from lap 10 onwards, I unfortunately had a small technical issue. Basically it looked like I suffered from tyres, but actually it was something else. Without this I’m definitely confident that the podium would have been possible.”

Losing out to Jehan Daruvala and Liam Lawson on the final laps of the Sprint Race, and slipping down the order in the Feature, Boshung is looking to improve on his qualifying performance:

“With the Feature Race in general, the pace wasn’t as great as the Sprint. But we know what we have to do to try and get the podium in the Feature Race. There’s still some work to do compared to qualifying, but we’re going to get there at some point.”

Having had some poor starts at the beginning of last season, the Campos team worked hard to enable the Swiss driver to maximise his qualifying position by Jeddah, and he popped his car into third place on the grid, subsequently celebrating on the third step of the podium:

“We do have good starts, which is obviously very important, but for sure it’s going to be a hectic weekend. As we saw in Jeddah last year anything could happen. After qualifying I’ll have a better idea of how the race this weekend will pan out.”

Would going back to Jeddah this coming weekend mean Boshung feels pressure to deliver again?

“No it doesn’t put anymore pressure to be honest, I always look at the season in a race-by-race situation.”

With that, does he feel he has an advantage after doing so well last year?

“We start the weekend. Everybody’s back to ground zero. Everybody’s got the same chances. For sure I like the track and I think it suits our car.”

Image Credit: Formula Motorsport Limited