JOHN BENNETT SHOWS HIS FIGHT ON MAIDEN IMOLA FIA FORMULA 2 VISIT

John Bennett was denied a points-paying performance in what was a challenging FIA Formula 2 weekend in Imola last weekend (16-18 May), as he began the European leg of his maiden voyage into the Formula 1 feeder championship.

The Salisbury-based young racer, who established himself as a points-scorer with the Van Amersfoort Racing squad in his early outings in FIA F2, turned his attentions to an all-new track for him as the championship travelled to the historic Imola circuit in San Marino.

Backed by partners Pangea Insurance, StreetSharp Ltd, Lonetree Limited and Lewco Holdings Limited, Bennett was quick to bed himself into his new surroundings and started to bring down his times in free practice to sit well under a second off the more experienced runners at the head of the field.

A manic dash followed that Friday afternoon in the all-important qualifying session. Again, Bennett was not far away from the pace required to challenge for the reverse grid top-10 positions, but he was one of several to have their push laps ruined by a late red flag interruption, meaning a new set of warm Pirelli tyres could not be utilised to their best.

Bennett, who is part of the prestigious BRDC Rising Stars programme, would therefore start the sprint race from row 10 of the grid with eyes on pushing forward towards that top 10. Imola has historically not been the easiest circuit to overtake at, and a good start was key - which Bennett duly got.

He immediately gained places in the early stages of the race, climbing up to P18 and looking to make further ground. A moment put him back down two places, before he was able to salvage P19 from the race with eyes focused towards strategy in the feature race on Sunday.

A solid getaway meant early progress was made in the 35-lapper, moving up into the top 17. Tyre strategy was set to be an important factor of the race, and Bennett thrived in the early going as he moved up towards the edges of the top 10 while pitstops began to cycle through from lap six. 

Moving to as high as an impressive eighth place, a safety car deployment on lap 15 prompted differing strategic calls. VAR gambled on using the safety car to gain time from pitting under neutralised conditions and put on the supersoft tyres he still had to run, albeit earlier than planned.

Under a lengthy green flag run to the flag and with no further safety car interruptions, the supersofts just could not do the number of race laps needed and grip fell away leaving Bennett ultimately powerless to defend his position in the closing stages. With so much tyre degradation he was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop to change to a third set of tyres, which dropped him from a points-paying position to an unrepresentative P20, despite his strong pace in the opening stint.

John Bennett: "A tough weekend in terms of the results, but a good step in terms of our learning having come to Imola for the first time. A great track, and certainly still full of those challenges it's always had.

"It's definitely one of those circuits where it's tough to overtake, so a better qualifying would have given us more of a chance but we were hindered by the red flag coming out just as I was about to end a strong push lap. We had a strategy on Sunday to use the harder of the two compounds and had a good stint moving up to P8 but the gamble on using the safety car to change to the softer tyres we still had to run just didn’t pay off as it proved too early and the tyres just couldn’t go the distance.

"I can't wait to get to Monaco now. Such a cool circuit with loads of history, and I think the concept of the street circuit could help us if we can keep making the strategy calls that put us into a position to fight."

Bennett is immediately back in FIA Formula 2 action this week (22-25 May) for one of the most special fixtures on the season's calendar, racing around the streets of Monte Carlo alongside the famous Monaco Grand Prix.

Images from James Gasperotti.