After the worst grid position in the year, the Brazilian recovered and finished second this Sunday
The 11th and penultimate round of the F2 World Championship has ended this Sunday. In Sochi Autodrom’s racetrack, in Russia, the Brazilian driver Sérgio Sette Câmara (YOUSE | Banco BMG | MRV | CCR | CEMIG | GASMIG | Usiminas | Americanet | Lubrax) had a weekend of overcome and, after a not very fruitful Qualifying session, got to surpass the problems and ended up, once again, on the podium celebrating the second position.
Weekend activities started on Friday, with the only Free Practice session. Sérgio, for the first time in the Russian course, did not take long to learn all the secrets of the track built around the city’s Olympic Park. With the competent support provided by the Carlin team he managed to achieve a good lap, ending the session with the 4th best time. The Qualifying session took place still on Friday, in the end of the afternoon. Sette, though believing to have ran a good lap, was not able to secure a competitive time, which resulted in the eight position on the grid in the first race.
Alongside with the team, the driver built his recovery strategy for that race and, after all had been planned, proceeded to race. Carlin’s team racecar #18 presented a bad efficiency with the red-stripped tires, which resulted in Sérgio losing a few positions in the first laps. This problem had been expected and after the mandatory pit-stop, in which the tires were exchanged for the yellow-stripped ones, the Brazilian driver was able to establish his own pace. After fast laps and by improving his time, the Brazilian was finally able to climb positions and, after the 28 laps, ended 5th when the checkered flag was waved.
“I can really say we’ve done our best today. We did not have the fastest car on the track and, intelligently, we built a strategy that allowed me to climb three positions relative to the start of the race and to finish it on fifth, adding 10 more points to the Championship”, said the 20-year-old driver in the end of the race.
PODIUM ACHIEVED IN A COMPLICATED RACE
Because of the result obtained yesterday Sette had the right to take off in the fourth position on this Sunday’s race. After a great start the driver was stuck in the fight for the third position and, carefully, was able to maintain his fourth position. After two laps with a good pace, Sérgio proceeded to put pressure on his opponents. It wasn’t long before he reached the third place and, two laps later, he reached the runner up position.
With half of the laps done, it started to rain on Sochi’s track. Most teams quickly opted to proceed to pit and rejoin the race with intermediate tires. Carlin worked very well and was able to put Sérgio back on the track on the same position, behind Englishman George Russel. With a good rhythm, the driver managed to shorten the gap between himself and the leader before the entrance of the virtual safety car, five laps to the end. When the racecars were authorized to regain their rhythm, Sette was not able to further approach the first driver. At two laps to the end, he began to be pressured by Alex Albon coming on third, Sérgio did however manage to keep a good pace and, without being effectively threatened, finished the race in a celebrated second place.
“It has been a pretty different weekend here in Sochi. I started in the worst position of the year and finished this round with 22 points, the second-best sum of the year. We were really smart in establishing our strategy for the race yesterday and, once again today, we had to change the tires in the precise moment. I was aggressive when I had the chance, I got to overtake and defend my position well. The story that came with the trophy here in Sochi will definitely be remembered for a long time”, concluded.
After 11 rounds in the F2 World Championship, Sérgio Sette is the 6th in the Standings, two points behind Russian driver Artem Markelov. Check out the six first drivers in the Championship: George Russel, 148; Alexander Albon, 211; Lando Noris, 197; Nicky DeVries, 184; Artem Markelov, 166 e Sérgio Sette Câmara, 164.
The last and decisive round of the F2 World Championship will take place between the 23rdand the 25th of November in Abu-Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.