Deletraz dominates Austrian Free Practice

Louis Deletraz
Louis Deletraz

Carlin’s Louis Deletraz emerged as the quickest on track for the first time this season, in FIA Formula 2 Free Practice, at the Red Bull Ring. The Swiss driver finished ahead of Championship leader Nyck De Vries and UNI-Virtuosi’s Luca Ghiotto, in a preparation focused session.

Nikita Mazepin was the first out onto the scenic countryside track as temperatures reached 30 degrees and the drivers initially focused on getting accustomed to the circuit and the afternoon heat. When times began to tumble, Callum Ilott set the precedent with a quickest lap of 1:15.300.

PREMA duo Sean Gelael and Mick Schumacher took a further chunk off the top time to claim P1 and P2, before De Vries matched the Indonesian, with an identical tour of the circuit. Deletraz then enjoyed his most successful practice stint of the season when he dipped under 1m15s to claim top spot.

Sergio Sette Camara and Callum Ilott both improved on their times to sit beneath Deletraz and De Vries in third and fourth. With this, attention switched to qualifying and the teams began to test the limits of the track and the setups of their cars on the demanding circuit.

Ghiotto and Latifi each attempted to better Deletraz time as practice drew to a close, but were unable to find as much pace as the Carlin racer and had to settle for a place behind De Vries. Jack Aitken finished fifth, followed by Sette Câmara, Ilott, Nobuharu Matsushita, Guanyu Zhou and Gelael.

Attention will now switch to qualifying at 4.55pm local time, when Deletraz will hope to continue the early form that he has shown in Round 6.

Free Practice

POS

DRIVER

TEAM

TIME

LAPS

1

Louis Deletraz

Carlin

1:14.782

26

2

Nyck De Vries

ART Grand Prix

1:14.840

24

3

Luca Ghiotto

UNI-Virtuosi Racing

1:14.869

24

4

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:15.040

23

5

Jack Aitken

Campos Racing

1:15.053

25

6

Sergio Sette Camara

DAMS

1:15.083

24

7

Callum Ilott

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:15.151

27

8

Nobuharu Matsushita

Carlin

1:15.177

25

9

Guanyu Zhou

UNI-Virtuosi Racing

1:15.199

24

10

Sean Gelael

PREMA Racing

1:15.261

25

11

Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

1:15.277

25

12

Mick Schumacher

PREMA Racing

1:15.288

25

13

Juan Manuel Correa

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:15.323

27

14

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:15.529

27

15

Anthoine Hubert

BWT Arden

1:15.714

27

16

Arjun Maini

Campos Racing

1:15.949

28

17

Jordan King

MP Motorsport

1:16.009

16

18

Patricio O'Ward

MP Motorsport

1:16.264

24

19

Ryan Tveter

Trident

1:16.388

26

20

Tatiana Calderon

BWT Arden

1:17.159

24

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