It was a challenging Sprint Race for PREMA at the Hungaroring, home of the FIA Formula 2 Championship at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Coming from a tricky qualifying session, the Italian squad faced a tough run.
Sebastian Montoya took off from the back of the grid and quickly showed he had the potential to fight back while still saving tyres. Unfortunately, while he was getting ready for an attack, he started suffering from mechanical issues that eventually stopped the #9 car.
Gabriele Minì also had his fair share of ups and downs. The Italian made contact with another car while slowing down for an incident. Having to serve a 10-second penalty, the team opted for a pit stop, which, combined with a late safety car, helped him to fight back to P14 in the end.
#9 SEBASTIAN MONTOYA
"It was an interesting race. The car felt excellent, and I was able to pass quite a lot of cars, but then we just got stuck in the DRS train. As I had a good gap behind me, I tried to cool down the tyres, which was quite good. Around 8 laps to go, I started to push again and closed the gap, but as soon as I caught up to the car in front, I lost the gearbox and everything shut off. It kept coming and going until the last corner, but then it switched off for good coming out of the last corner."
#10 GABRIELE MINÌ
"We had an okay start and gained one place. Halfway into the first lap, there was a contact out front, and as there was a lot of speed difference with the car in front, I hit it. Apologies to Roman for that. Then we were in a DRS train. Pace didn't look too bad, but it was really hard to get a run and overtake. We boxed to serve the penalty, and in the end, with the safety car, we gained seven places in the last three pushes, which wasn't bad. We also learned some stuff for tomorrow, so we will work, analyze, and see what we can do for the Feature Race."