Ollie Bearman will be aiming to kickstart his Formula 2 season as the championship moves onto Imola this weekend. He and Franco Colapinto spoke to Feeder Series and selected media on the eve of the Emilia-Romagna round.

By Martin Lloyd

The Prema driver had to withdraw from the second round of F2 in Jeddah to replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari in Formula 1, and this contributed to a failure to score in five of the first six rounds of the F2 season. Consequently, the Briton needs to improve on his current total of two points as the season moves into Europe for the first time. Nonetheless, Bearman told Feeder Series that he is confident in Prema’s understanding of the new car.

‘A difficult start, but not for lack of pace’

“I think people are probably underrating Prema slightly. We’ve had a difficult start to the season but not for lack of pace. I got the pole in Jeddah and I was also performing in Australia, so of course we worked on a few things and I feel quite confident for Imola, but I feel and I hope that Prema will surprise everyone quite soon.”

Indeed, were it not for a quirk in the F2 rulebook, Bearman’s points tally would have been doubled to four. As polesitter in Saudi Arabia, he would have received two points but needed to start on pole to receive them. However, he was drafted into Ferrari for the remainder of the weekend and therefore could not score in F2, losing potential race points in addition to those accrued in qualifying.

Colapinto: MP can fight for more wins

Meanwhile, MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto is pleased with the pace shown so far by the Dutch squad. Colapinto’s teammate, Dennis Hauger, has regularly contended for podiums and wins, including a victory in the Jeddah sprint race. On the other side of the garage, the Argentinian has accrued points more steadily. The rookie told Feeder Series that he hopes to reach Hauger’s level soon.  

“I think everyone was expecting other people in front, we are in front and we have a car to fight for race wins and to win positions. I think this is what the team was hoping for, of course, I need to do a step to be up there as well.”

So far, Colapinto has scored points with sixth place in the Bahrain feature race and fourth in the Melbourne sprint. The Williams Academy driver has not yet matched the results of his more experienced teammate but feels that the team is working well with the challenges of the new Dallara machinery.  

“The car is looking very quick. The team is doing a great job with the new car. We were up to speed very quickly, and in the high-speed tracks we were really strong.” 

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency