Formula 2

Piastri has one hand on F2 crown as Prema clinch team title

Fraser Masefield
05 Dec 2021
3 min read

The Prema Formula 2 team, partnered by Acronis, was left celebrating yet another championship title on its glittering roster as Oscar Piastri’s back-to-back race victories left him on the brink of securing the title in his debut season.

The dominant Australian, mentored by Mark Webber, laid the groundwork on Friday by securing a fourth consecutive pole position for Sunday’s feature race. And having grabbed points in the opening sprint, Piastri passed Jehan Daruvala with three laps remaining to take the Sprint Race 2 win.

“It was a tricky race,” commented Piastri after his sprint win. “I was kind of just waiting for DRS and then there was constant Safety Cars. Finally there was a green period and Jehan had a big lock up so I knew his tyre was going to be pretty screwed after that. I knew he had a five second penalty but I really wanted to do it on track and I knew there was two points for fastest lap as well, so pretty much perfectly executed I’d say.”

Starting on pole for Sunday’s all-important feature, Piastri led the field away but the race was then red flagged following a frightening accident involving the stalled Theo Pourchaire and Enzo Fittipaldi. When racing again resumed, Piastri established a lead over Prema teammate Robert Shwartzman but another crash involving F2 debutant Caldwell and Guilherme Samaia meant the race was again red flagged and half points awarded.

“It wasn’t much of a race, I got a good start initially and held the lead and then obviously there was the crash behind, so yeah,” commented Piastri in the official post race press conference. “That’s about it really for the race. Then we got back underway for a few laps and there was a bit of confusion with people doing pit stops and stuff and who actually won, so I didn’t know until about ten minutes after. But I think the most important thing from this one is that everyone is conscious.”

Focus now switches to the final round of the season, where Piastri holds an almost insurmountable 51.5 point lead over his teammate as Prema were left celebrating the title with a round to spare.

“It’s 100% what the team deserve, they’ve done an awesome job all season, and you know not just this season, but both of the seasons I’ve been with them,” added Piastri. “It’s a great achievement for the team. It’s not the most exciting way to have won the teams’ Championship, but nonetheless, it’s a massive achievement for the team and I’m really happy for them.”

Motorsport Technology is an Acronis initiative and Acronis are proud to be the official Cyber Protection Partner of the Prema team. To find out more, please visit https://www.acronis.com/en-us/lp/msp-sports/

Fraser Masefield

Sports news and features writer, web editor and author.

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