Hola, charlistas.

We’re back in… back for more charla-tan. That’s an extremely rare type of tan you get at the beach (preferably Portuguese or Spanish) while enjoying these highly intellectual Charlas I’ve been churning out metronomically every effing week, like Alonso’s lap times in the good ole V10 days. I’m BIG, I’m an academic tosser as I like to say.

Discover Portugal, discover Spain.

So what was different about F2 / F3 combo in Austria? Well for once we weren’t there in the paddock (and I mean physically because we’re always present spiritually) – our enthusiasm for the sport is just as contagious as… No, no, scrap that. We produce interviews that are more energizing than Red Bull! Much better.

Sergio is famous for predicting future F3 / F2 stars and he hit the nail on the head once again.

Interview with Sebastián Fernández: https://iberianmph.com/2019/09/23/seb-25/ Pole position, F3 – Race 1.

Interview with Felipe Drugovich: https://iberianmph.com/2019/08/05/felipe-says/ Winner, F2 – Race 2.

Interview with Louis Delétraz: https://iberianmph.com/2019/09/08/ld-vs-sa/ P2, F2 – Race 2.

Boom! Close and yes cigar.

Drivers, make your appointment with Iberianmph if you wish to go fast.

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Feel free to check out race results from Mateschitz-Ring.

F2 Race 1 – click HERE

F2 Race 2 – click HERE

F3 Race 1 – click HERE

F3 Race 2 – click HERE

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What grabbed my punditly #PunditocracyDriven attention this weekend?

First up, Luca Ghiotto – WTF man? DNS and DNF?! Luca’s perennial bad luck seems to have gotten worse during quarantine. I couldn’t believe it, I refuse to believe it. We know Hitech Grand Prix’s maiden F2 campaign wasn’t going to be easy but with Marzipan (Mazepin for those of you who don’t know) dad’s cash aplenty to splash, they ought to have done a little bit better. A win in F3 for Liam ‘Awesome’ Lawson helped make up for Hitech’s F2 disappointment. On to the next one. You can’t afford losing points in Formula 2, think Lauda, that’s your best chance at winning the championship and going to either F1 or IMSA.

All eyes were on Guanyu Zhou on Saturday as he started from pole and then the car failed. The talented Sheffielder tipped to replace Ricciardo at Renault was running up front and could’ve probably won if it weren’t for mechanical issues. Tough luck, at least GZ showed he’s got speed in AliExpress bundles. F1 needs a Chinese driver to improve its diversity image. I mean pretty much every F1 driver owns an iPhone Made in China, innit.

Sylvan Adams’s baby project at Williams F1, Roy Nissany, put Israel firmly on the map in P10 in the Feature Race. Roy, you’re my hero. Williams’ future is forming. A decent effort, I’m serious. We often dismiss drivers of Roy’s calibre, however I beg to differ – look at Renault F1’s team boss C. Abiteboul driving one of his own cars in Austria and finishing P8. Unexpected – yes; shocking – no. I always knew Cyril was the one impersonating Hülkenberg. Great job by Ocon on the pit wall. Kudos.

Not a bad start to the 2020 campaign from Dan Ticktum as well: ex-Red Bull POW finished P5 in Race 1 and then got the job done in P3 in Race 2. A bit of welcome Boums! (‘boost’ in French) for DAMS.

Alesi Jr staged his ‘Father to Son’ tribute by retiring on exactly the same spot as his dad did in 1997 when he flew over Eddie Irvine’s Ferrari. Come on! Jean sold his F40 for this? I can assume that the Austrian heat melted a lot of engines all across the board, from F2 to F1. Can you imagine a technical goulash of pistons, oil rings and connecting rods with squashed spark plugs acting as paprika? Michelin 10 stars! Sorry Pirelli.

What else? ‘New 18 inches rims introduced in 2020’ did their job alright, it looked perfectly reasonable to me. New cool wheels for hip F2 kids, with Pirelli pimping their already quite stiff Dallara ride and in many ways enabling F2 aces to ride their pimp? Plus we got our exclusive preview well ahead of F1’s own version – should it ever happen.

And that was the end of that Charla. See you next time. Until then, all hail Black Sabbath. #ksjghiurpoqwkfvnvbndquouwjkbjshkjghkjglkd