Frederik Vesti took first place in the Formula 2 sprint race at Monza after just three corners and remained in the lead until the chequered flag fell, reducing his deficit to championship leader Théo Pourchaire to nine points with three races to go. Feeder Series and select media spoke to Vesti after the race.

By George Brabner

Vesti wasted no time getting into the lead of the sprint race from third on the grid. He was gifted second place almost immediately by polesitter Ralph Boschung, who locked up and took to the escape road at the first corner, before sweeping around the outside of Richard Verschoor two turns later to take first.

The Dane held off a charging Victor Martins in the race’s dying stages to secure his fifth victory in 2023, simultaneously knocking five points off Pourchaire’s championship lead.

It marked a significant turnaround in fortunes for Vesti, whose last two feature races ended with a crash on the reconnaissance lap and the loss of both rear wheels after a pit stop malfunction respectively.

“Spa and Zandvoort was very difficult in the feature race, so to finish on the podium now is important to restart this championship. This is the second to last round, but this definitely helps, and I’m just fully motivated now for tomorrow,” Vesti said after the race.

With another victory under his belt, the Prema Racing driver has collected the same number of wins in 2023 as Felipe Drugovich scored in his championship-winning F2 season.

But in contrast to the Brazilian 12 months ago, Vesti is trailing Pourchaire in the standings with three races left. It is therefore of paramount importance that he makes significant progress in Sunday’s feature race from eighth on the grid – a contest that Pourchaire is set to start from pole position.

“The mindset is full send. It’s attack, and I need to because I am behind Théo nine points now,” Vesti said. “If I want to win the championship, I need to take risks and move forward. That’s the good part about racing, and that I think is what all drivers like to do, so I’m happy to do that.”

Focused on the task at hand

Pressure is mounting on 21-year-old Mercedes junior Vesti, who has just three more opportunities to outscore Pourchaire. And even as rumours swirl about a possible jump to F2 with Prema for fellow Mercedes junior and 17-year-old FRECA leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Vesti insisted that his focus was squarely on each of his next three F2 races.

“I focus fully on myself. I’m just trying to do the best I can every single session and every single day, so I’m not really too much focused on what’s going on. I’m focused to try to win this title,” Vesti told Feeder Series.

Monza is a happy hunting ground for Vesti, who took two podium finishes there in his rookie F2 season. Overtaking opportunities are plentiful at the Italian circuit, leading to unpredictable races.

“I would not call it a lottery, but you can definitely win from very far so it’s possible a lot can happen [with] safety cars and so on,” Vesti said.

“I’ve won here from P9 before in F3 [in 2020], so everything is possible, and I’m going to stay very confident and push the maximum. F2 is a bit different with the strategy and so on, so there should be some opportunity.

“It’s 30 laps tomorrow, so we will try to improve the car further and even myself to see if I can find a bit more pace.”

The feature race has a mandatory pit stop, meaning drivers have to use both the medium and supersoft compounds. Though the option tyre is one step softer than what was offered last year, Vesti told Feeder Series that he did not expect issues on either of this year’s compounds.

“Honestly, I am confident. The car today was good. There’s usually not a big difference on the two compounds in terms of the car. Of course, the car will go quicker on the option, but normally if the car is quick, it should be on both compounds.

“As a driver, you need to adapt. There will be a difference in braking, on traction and so on, so it’s up to us to adapt. But the main thing tomorrow will be to overtake and also try to extend and keep the tyres for as long as possible. We’ll see what happens.”

Header photo credit: Prema Racing