Our FIA Formula 2 drivers are busy during the race weekend in Budapest. So let’s cast an eye over the performance of Ayumu Iwasa, the Japanese rookie who certainly has not gone unnoticed. But discovering his talent, even before the European public, were RedBull and Honda, who did not think twice about putting him under contract.
In Japan he proves to be fast and competitive…
So he landed in Europe in 2020, winning the French F4 in the first shot with an impressive 9 wins and 15 podiums ! The following year he races in two categories, finishing eighth in the F3 Asian Championship. He then finishes 12th in his first and only season in FIA F3 with the Hitech team, for which he scored two podiums including a win at the Hungarioring !
His performance thus earns Ayumu Iwasa a place in FIA F2 for this season in DAMS alongside the much more experienced Nissany. But how is his rookie season going? Let’s analyse together his ups and downs !
Hard times …
We can say that the rookie season in all categories is a special season, you have to get used to the new car, the new environment, confront the expectations and much more. Even for Ayumu this season is presenting ups and downs. In fact, the Japanese driver has not always been able to perform at his best and get the desired results.
Other times, however, he made real mistakes, such as when during qualifying in Monaco he did not slow down under a double yellow flag. This oversight cost him not only the cancellation of the time he set in qualifying, which led to him starting 20th, but also a 10-second penalty in the Sprint Race and 3 points less on his license. Then during the Sprint Race, a risky move on Novalak at Rascasse forced the MP driver to retire and earned Iwasa another 10-second penalty.
Another not-too-pleasant moment for our rookie was also when during the Feature Race in Baku he was touched by Huges. The contact in fact caused him front wing damage and a puncture and thus also a retirement.
But glory moments are not slow in coming either !
From the first race weekend Iwasa shows his potential during the sprint race by climbing up from the bottom to eighth position and taking home the first point of the season. Also in the feature race he proves his great driving ability by scoring one overtake after another and provisionally leading the race after regaining as many as 21 positions out of the 22 drivers competing in F2 !
His good pace also allowed him to shine in qualifying at Imola, where he secured second place alongside Vips.
His first podium finish, however, came in Spain, when after battling with Sargeant he got a well-deserved second place !
To find the Japanese driver on the podium again, however, we have to wait until the Silverstone sprint race where a back-and-forth race with Doohan and Fittipaldi puts him on the second step of the podium again.
However, the RedBull junior manages to crown a dream and, crossing the finish line first in the feature race in France, he finally proclaimes himself as the winner of an F2 race ! The details of the victory, as of all the action of the race are recounted in their highlights in our report.
In the graph you can see the development of Iwasa’s season in relation to what we have just seen. These ups and downs have still placed the Japanese in ninth place in the drivers’ standings with 72 points behind Dane Vesti’s 75. Also let’s remember that there are still five rounds left to live !
We look forward to commenting with you on this weekend’s races in Hungary and following the progress of Ayumu and the other rookies here on Mult1formula.com !
