Ralph Boschung scored his first point of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship season and for his new Trident team at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain.
After two impressive qualifying performances to kick off the campaign with his new Italian team, Boschung continued his run of top 10 starts in 2019 with seventh on the grid in a fiercely tight session which saw half the field split by half a second.
Running the alternate strategy in the Feature Race, the Swiss driver started on the harder prime tyre and ran until lap 25 of 37 before switching to the softer option compound, taking the lead of the race in doing so.
Although he emerged in 13th, the 2016 GP3 Series race winner utilised his fresh tyres and stormed past cars to get back inside the points with a 10th place finish, which also marked Trident’s first point of the season.
From 10th on the grid in the Sprint Race, it became difficult to make up places due to the limited overtaking opportunities on the Spanish Grand Prix venue. Nonetheless, Boschung matched his Saturday result.
The fourth round of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship will take place in Monte Carlo, Monaco on 23-25 May.
Ralph Boschung: “I’m very happy with our performance during qualifying, I think we are really starting to make progress. This is the third time that we were in the top 10 in qualifying, which is always the target for the moment. We got closer to the leaders, just half a second away and I was very satisfied with this. We still need to work on race pace. We don’t have the optimum set-up which suits my driving style and we’re not yet at the level we need to be, but we’re continuing to work on it.
“I hope I will be able to race in Monaco next weekend as I have been let down by two key sponsors who are not fulfilling their commitments since the beginning of the year. This unfortunate situation is really stressful and has had an impact on my performance on track as I spend more time chasing these two individuals in between races than preparing physically and mentally as other drivers do.
“Trident has been fantastic and very understanding on this matter since the beginning of the season and I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart. I would also like to thank my partners Gotham and MedXcell who have been amazing this season, their support is tremendous and I am extremely grateful.
“Hopefully the current situation will be resolved next week and I am confident in the team as they have always performed well in Monaco and we should be competitive there.”
