Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Frederik Vesti led most of Formula 2’s Red Bull Ring feature race, but eventually settled for third as he took a conservative approach while setting sights on the title.
The Prema racer got away brilliantly from second on the grid, taking the lead off the line from ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins.
Strong pace through the race meant he led after the pitstops played out, but a late safety car period left him vulnerable against drivers on the alternate strategy.
“It’s out of my control,” he said about dropping from first to third on the penultimate lap.
“There’s not much I can do about it. I can just try to do the best, maximise what I can control and that was what I tried to do. Sometimes it’s like this, hopefully one day I will benefit the same way.
“We still had a very strong race and we learned a lot. We took a lot of confidence from this weekend in general. I’m just excited for what’s ahead of us.
“To be honest, it [the race’s first half] was really, really good. I could feel it almost instantly that the car was really good. Yesterday, the car was not perfect, so we made a few changes. And to make such a good step in the right direction with the car is completely the team doing a good job. I must say that that’s quite impressive with Prema because they know what they’re doing and when they make changes, it usually is in a good direction.”
The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior grew his F2 lead to 20 points by finishing third, with ART GP’s Theo Pourchaire – who finished the race in seventh – his closest rival.
“That sounds good,” said Vesti. “And I think more than that, we showed that we had a bit more pace than them today.”
“I had to believe [I could hold on],” he added on his approach to the race’s last laps. “But I knew that it was going to be difficult.
“Last week in Barcelona, I was on the option tyre actually with [Ayumu] Iwasa fighting quite hard and he was on the prime. It’s such a big advantage. In the end I can try to fight, but also I don’t want to take incredible risk to win the race like this.”
Although he is still hungry for wins, having taken three in the first 11 races, Vesti is looking at the title fight entering the season’s second half.
“There’s two answers to that. One is that you don’t think about it and just go for the win every time. The other one is that you go for the win every time but if there is a place where there’s a high risk, you can maybe think a little bit more about [the title].
“But the thing is like if you think too much about it, it’s definitely not going to help. So it’s important to clear the head and go for every point and every race win possible.”