The Briton put in a remarkable performance during Sunday’s Feature race from the back of the starting grid to finish 8th. Swiss Boschung, who was also moving through the field, got his chances dashed when two safety cars ruined his strategy
Campos Racing added more points to their tally at Zandvoort, which hosted the antepenultimate round of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship season in the frame of the Dutch F1 Grand Prix. Ralph Boschung, struggling a bit with his neck issues on such a demanding circuit, and Olli Caldwell fought back after a problematic qualifying session on the twisty Zandvoort circuit. Despite Boschung’s efforts didn’t finally pay off particularly on Sunday, when the safety car came out ruining his strategy, Caldwell scored more points for the championship with a faultless driving during the entire race.
On Friday, Boschung and Caldwell completed 33 laps in their Campos Racing-run Dallara F2 cars during the single free practice session held in the morning. It was particularly important for Boschung as the Swiss racer had never raced at Zandvoort before. Caldwell posted a lap time of 1m24.126s and Boschung put a lap together of 1m24.476s. Later in qualifying, two red flags hampered attempts to complete a clean lap without traffic. Caldwell finally clocked a lap of 1m22.122s, which was 19th-fastest, and Boschung’s best effort was a time of 1m22.399s to start from 21st.
Saturday’s sprint race, consisting of 29 laps, was expected to be a hard challenge considering how difficult Zandvoort is to overtake from the back of the grid. Boschung gained three places at the start and Caldwell got his chances ruined very early into the race following an off track at T1. Despite the Briton pitted for a new front wing, his race finally came to an end on lap 14 when he stopped in the pits. Boschung’s race pace was competitive lapping in low 1m27s and gradually lowering his lap times until 1m26s. But, despite DRS, it was almost impossible to overtake other cars and the Swiss racer took the checkered flag in 17th place.
Feature race on Sunday was expected to be another hard challenge but its 40 laps and pit stops opened new chances for both Campos Racing drivers. When the lights went green, the goal was to keep the car in one piece. Boschung was hit by Logan Sargeant at the beginning. The American driver missed the braking point and crashed into the barriers. Despite Boschung could continue in the race, extensive barriers damage brought the red flag to make repairs. After 30 minutes, the race resumed. Caldwell, who had started on the soft compound, made his pit stop on lap 11. Meanwhile, Boschung was already running in the top-6 on his hard tire and making a long first stint. A safety car was deployed when Marino Sato lost a front wheel and crashed at Tarzan corner and, five laps later, it came out again with several cars colliding each other at the restart. With the race finally in green flag conditions on lap 24, Boschung made his pit stop. Unfortunately, his advantage had gone after both safety car periods. Up the front, Caldwell was running in eighth place and was keeping Jehan Daruvala at bay with precise defensive driving. At the end, Caldwell crossed the finish line in eighth place scoring points in a very difficult incident-marred race. Boschung finished in 15th place.
The FIA Formula 2 will head to Italy for a third event in three consecutive weekends. Monza’s Temple of Speed will host the penultimate double-header of the 2022 season next weekend.
