Vesti feels “very confident” of clinching Formula 2 title after seventh podium

Frederik Vesti says he feels “very confident” of winning the Formula 2 championship as he takes an 11-point lead into the final eight races.

The Prema driver finished second in the feature race on Sunday which extended his championship lead to 11 points over Theo Pourchaire, who came sixth. It was Vesti’s seventh podium finish of the season, four of which were victories.

He could become the first Mercedes-backed driver to take the title since George Russell five years ago. Speaking in response to a question from RaceFans, Vesti said he feels “very confident” of winning the title.

However he acknowledged there are still a lot of unknowns and outlined the work he needs to do to put himself in the best position.

“It’s a good feeling, we need to continue pushing though,” he said. “It’s not a given that we are fast every weekend, so it means that we need to do our job very well both in the simulator, with the set-up and how I approach the mental game.

“Obviously there is pressure and fighting for a championship like this means a lot to all of us and it is something you have to deal with as a driver. But I’m in a very good place, I’m more confident than I’ve ever been and a result like this just re-confirms that and I’m ready to continue fighting.”

Vesti said it had been “very important” to score a good result in Hungary following a mixed weekend in the previous round.

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After Vesti won the sprint race at Silverstone he retired from the main event after being hit by Dennis Hauger. That allowed Pourchaire to cut Vesti’s championship lead to just six points.

Vesti was anxious to avoid a repeat of that setback in Hungary. “The consistency is a bit like a snowball,” he explained, “it’s the momentum you build.

“I think since Monaco I had a very good rhythm, and then obviously a weekend like Silverstone with a bad quali, engine failure and getting hit in the safety car restart scoring only 10 points that weekend, it just stops. There’s a snowball effect.

“You have to go away from the race track, try to think what you can do, and just show up again confident and do exactly what we did this weekend being fast in practice, quali and competitive in both races.

“That’s the way you have to bounce back, and that gives me a lot of confidence for the next few rounds, especially for next week in Spa.

“So it feels good and it just means that now we have a small lead again, which is nice.”

Formula 2’s next round is this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, before returning to Zandvoort after the four-week summer break.

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