On a weekend when the pressure and anticipation were building as much as the temperatures were at a scorching Silverstone circuit, it was 20-year-old Oscar Piastri who turned up the heat on the championship. In an amazing display from the Australian Prema driver throughout the weekend, Piastri now leads the drivers’ standings after round four of the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

The paddock arrived at the heart of motorsport valley greeted by glorious weather; the track basking in 22-degree air temp and providing great conditions for tackling the fast-flowing corners of Silverstone. Piastri hit the ground running and was on the pace right away in a disturbed practice session. Initially running in the top five, it didn’t take long for the young Melburnian to hit the top of the timesheets, continuing to improve before being pipped by the Carlin of Dan Ticktum. Piastri managed to keep the momentum going into the afternoon’s qualifying session with an amazing lap, an exceptional sector two in his first run, shooting him to provisional pole by half a second with a 1:39.854. With no one beating this time in their second runs the Prema driver claimed a first pole in Formula 2 and closed to within one point of the championship leader Guanyo Zhou.

“Pole in Silverstone! It’s been a while since my last one, but I’m super happy. I think we had the pace all day today, we were really strong in practice as well as in qualy obviously. I’m glad that my first run was good enough because I made a big mistake with the second set of tyres. Now we have to fight back from P10 in race 1, but we’re on pole for the feature race, which is what we’re here for.”

It was an early start for the drivers for the first sprint race but continuing sunshine and a cooler track made for perfect conditions to go racing. Lining up P10 alongside Zhou, Piastri got off the line well making up three positions in as many laps and avoiding multiple first lap incidents including avoiding Zhou who had spun at Village. The incidents brought out the safety car which came in at the end of lap three and they were back racing with the Prema driver locked onto the Hitech of Liam Lawson for sixth. The battle was on as Piastri went for the move around the outside of Luffield and continued into Copse, Maggotts and Becketts as Ticktum closed in before another safety car for a stalled HWA of Alessio Deledda neutralised the race. The race went back to green at the end of lap six and Piastri took no time at all to make the move. On the back of Lawson through the first couple of corners, he placed his Prema car on the inside of Village and moved into sixth.

Breaking away from Lawson, Piastri was showing great pace before the cars were bunched up again for a third safety car after Guilherme Samaia beached his Charouz into the gravel at Luffield on lap 12. When racing recommenced on lap 14, the young Australian continued his impressive form and by lap 18 had pulled three seconds clear of Lawson. On his way to a sixth place finish, he popped in the fastest lap of the race and two bonus points. This promoted him at the top of the championship standings by two points.

There wasn’t long to wait until the second sprint race and with the temperatures soaring to 26.3 degrees and a track temperature of 49.4 degrees, tyre management was going to be key. Starting from fifth and fourth respectively, Piastri and Lawson resumed their earlier battle, Piastri making the move on the inside into Village but Lawson defended the line and continued to do so through The Loop. Down the Wellington Straight, Piastri kept the pressure on Lawson, making another move into Brooklands whilst keeping his eye on the second Hitech of Juri Vips behind. Further back the Campos of Ralph Boschung had collected Deledda on the entry to the Wellington Straight, leading to a safety car.

Racing recommenced on lap four and now Piastri was feeling the pressure from Vips , the Estonian driver making a move into turn three but Piastri defended well to keep him at bay. On lap six, the Carlin of Jehan Daruvala and Trident of Bent Viscaal clashed into Stowe causing yet another safety car. Back to racing at the end of lap 10, the Lawson/Piastri/Vips battle for fourth was really heating up. The Prema driver held onto the back of Lawson’s Hitech making moves lap after lap until lap 18 when he was able to put his nose ahead with a brilliant pass coming off of the Wellington Straight and into Brooklands.

Once in free air Piastri was able to stretch his legs, pulling away from Lawson by 2.8 seconds on lap 19 and setting the fastest lap. He improved again with a time of 1:42.845 and crossed the line in fourth. The extra two points meant the Prema driver ended the day with a handy 12 point championship lead.

“I’m very happy with today’s results as we were strong in both races and all conditions. In race 1 I had a quick start and made a few spots straight away, and then got past Lawson to take P6. After that, we were just stuck in a DRS train and I couldn’t really make any more progress forward. In race 2, I had a pretty average start but made a good move towards the end to take P4. The pace was mega in clean air so I could set the fastest lap in both races. I don’t think there was really much more we could have done today. Bring on tomorrow!”

After a super Saturday Piastri arrived on a hot Sunday for the feature race on pole position alongside his championship rival and fellow Alpine Academy driver, Zhou. As the lights went out it was Zhou who got the better start and shifted Piastri down to second into the first corner. The Prema driver stuck to the Uni-Virtuosi whilst keeping an eye on Ticktum behind. By lap 4 Piastri dropped back a bit to cool the car and look after the tyres to maintain the car throughout the long race ahead. A couple of laps later though, and most of the drivers who had started on the softer medium tyres were struggling and dived into the pits for the white walled hard tyre, including Ticktum. Piastri came in a lap later and got out just in front of Ticktum. But, the Carlin driver had the momentum and warmer tyres as he pressed the young Australian around The Loop before using DRS to get ever closer down the Wellington Straight and make the move into Brooklands. Piastri on cold tyres couldn’t defend but once they were up to temperature, he was able to bring the battle back to Ticktum and set the fastest lap on the next lap and then again on lap 10.

Piastri was still keeping the pressure on as they approached the Trident of Marino Sato who was yet to pit, the pair passing him on lap 13 around The Loop. They then arrived on the back of Matteo Nannini, another driver yet to pit. Ticktum had a couple of lockups before being able to clear the Campos driver on lap 15 but frustratingly Piastri found himself stuck behind Nannini for a number of laps until the Italian finally pitted on lap 25. In the meantime, Richard Verschoor on fresher tyres had closed in on Piastri. With three laps remaining, the pair approached traffic and the MP Motorsport driver was right on Piastri’s tail. On the penultimate lap, Verschoor tried a move on the outside of Vale but Piastri kept the inside into Club and held position as they headed onto the Hamilton Straight. Despite the best efforts of Verschoor, Piastri defended well to hold onto third at the chequered flag and a well deserved podium for his weekend’s work.

“We got P3 in the feature race, which was a difficult one. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have the same pace that we had yesterday. When we caught Nannini in the middle of the race, we didn’t have the pace to pass him, which was surprising and rather disappointing. Even after that, the final laps put my defensive skills to test. We still scored solid points, walked away with another trophy and the championship lead, so overall it has been a great weekend. Not the way we wanted to end it, but we showed well what we are truly capable of, and I want to thank the team for all their work.”

Despite today’s slight disappointment, it was a great weekend for Piastri who leaves Silverstone with the most points collected by any driver, fastest in three out of the five sessions and leading the championship by five points at the half way point.

The teams and drivers will be back after the summer break for round five at Monza on September 10-12.

Images © Prema Powerteam