FIA Formula 2

Frederik Vesti extends Formula 2 championship lead in wet Barcelona

Andrew Rickert

Jun 4, 2023 — 3 min read

Frederik Vesti took his second consecutive Formula 2 victory as the field braved the wet conditions in Barcelona.

Frederik Vesti celebrates with his PREMA team in pit lane. *(PREMA Racing)*

The PREMA Racing driver survived contact with Jak Crawford on the opening lap to chase down reverse grid pole-sitter Amaury Cordeel for the lead on lap two, holding his lead through the rain and into the drying conditions at the end of the race.

He pitted for slick tyres behind the safety car and led a four lap dash to the finish ahead of Théo Pourchaire and Victor Martins.

“It was a very difficult race, starting on the wet tyre,” said Vesti.

I had a little contact at turn one, but I managed to get going. I was almost losing the car but we just managed to survive. Then when I overtook for P1, I actually wasn't sure I was overtaking because I was on the inside and I couldn't see Cordeel, but all of a sudden I was in the lead and I tried to maximize the gap to Victor.”

“Five laps before the safety car I started to struggle a little bit, like everyone. I was quite ready to go to the slick tyre but it was tricky as you sort of have to predict the grip and that's very difficult.”

Frederik Vesti takes the chequered flag in the Formula 2 Barcelona sprint race. *(PREMA Racing)*

Despite pitting behind the safety car, Vesti said the wet tyre would have survived to the end of the race, based on his experience from testing, most of which took place at the same Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

With the rain falling the hardest at the start of the race and the track drying throughout, conditions were extremely difficult, but the Dane said his car performed well regardless.

“To be honest it was good in both conditions. In the wet, I felt very comfortable early on.”

“I'm happy we did a lot of testing here in the wet so I was very confident in the car. I just tried to maximize the whole lap.”

Théo Pourchaire was second after a series of late-race moves once on the slick tyre, showing his skill at managing the drying conditions.

“It was very stressful because the track was a bit damp in some places so it was tricky conditions, but we boxed earlier than the other drivers for the slicks so I had one more lap to warm them up,” said the Frenchman.

“Under VSC and then SC I could see places where there was a bit more water and I learned a bit about the lines and I knew I was going for an overtake in turn one on Hauger. Then my teammate made a small mistake in turn three, so that allowed me to brake really late into turn four and then I tried to overtake Fred but he was a bit faster.”

“Unfortunately, there wasn't any DRS enabled which would have maybe helped me a bit, but it's like that. I'm happy with P2.”

Victor Martins was unbothered by the late race move from teammate Pourchaire and set about defending a late charge from Dennis Hauger to complete the podium.