FULLY IN CHARGE

Vesti's "signature" was to be found everywhere in Sunday's Feature Race which he totally dominated at his favorite track, the Red Bull Ring in Austria. Yet, Vesti had to settle for 3rd place in a terrific race, which Vesti characterizes as his best F2 race to date. With this weekend's result, Vesti now pulls away from his biggest competitors in the field and maintains his leading position in the championship for the 3rd weekend in a row ahead of Silverstone.

From a starting position as 2nd and a brilliant start, Vesti swept past pole sitter Victor Martins already before turn 1. From then on it was a textbook example of combining high speed and tire management and executed to perfection.

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I was in complete control in this race. It was the coolest feeling! I pulled away from the others in the field, and yet I managed to save my tires and thus was able to keep my tires longer in the first stint before pitting on lap 9. The same was true after the pit stop, where I came out on the hard tire. Here too I managed to gain seconds while saving tires. It's an incredibly great feeling, because these tires remain the biggest challenge for us drivers.

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En route to a commanding victory, a competitor lost a tire on the track and a safety car ruined Vesti's race. The entire field that had been spread out now came together behind the safety car and the drivers who had started on a different strategy than Vesti - and had not yet had the mandatory pit stop - took advantage of this to pit. It saved them the usually very precious seconds lost while pitting. Against the fast soft tire, Vesti's used tires stood no chance in the final laps.

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Incredibly sad to see myself overtaken - because of a safety car that comes at the worst possible time, when my tires suffer from degradation. At least I know why I'm losing my obvious win. Everything I could control was under my complete control. The rest totally out of my hands. These are the rules in F2. We all abide by them. One day, one of my competitors will suffer too. One of the biggest F1 journalists wrote to me after the race that this was a "highway robbery" in broad daylight. Let's just call it that", smiles a happy Vesti - despite the "robbery"-  and who once again did not stray away from his impressive form at the Red Bull Ring. Since 2019, Vesti has set pole and won in all the various junior categories.

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Vesti's team, PREMA, once again showed superiority in the set-up and execution of Vesti's requests for changes to the car after Saturday's Sprint Race. Incidentally, a race where everyone gambled with a 50/50 chance of tire choice on a wet track that dried up quickly and hence favorable to the ones having chosen to start the race on slicks. Vesti saw himself fall back from 3rd place in the field to outside the points.

It is a Vesti hungry for much more that is now regaining his full strength a few days ahead of the grand "kick-off" this forthcoming weekend at England's most precious "Crown jewel": Silverstone.