Compromised Feature Race again ruins GP2 weekendAnother top-three qualifying result proves Arthur's pace

A pit-stop issue while in podium contention during Saturday’s Feature Race denied Arthur Pic a chance of making it two GP2 Series wins in as many years at the Hungaroring last weekend (July 26-28). The problem, which prompted his tumble down the order to 13th by the finish, also put paid to a coveted top-eight reverse grid slot for the following day’s Sprint Race, ruining his chances of salvaging something from the event.

Round six of the 2015 campaign started brightly enough for the Frenchman who ran at the front in Friday morning’s free practice session before ending up fourth. And, having upped his pace further, he’d finish one place higher that afternoon by qualifying just a tenth shy of pole.

A busy start to Saturday’s Feature Race initially saw Pic relieve championship leader and McLaren-Honda test and development driver Stoffel Vandoorne of second, before slipping back to third behind Pierre Gasly. The 23-year-old then found himself at the centre of a fierce battle with Raffaele Marciello, the two drivers fighting wheel to wheel through several corners before the Ferrari F1 protégé made the place his.

It wasn’t long before an incident further down the order between Sergio Canamasas and Nicholas Latifi triggered a Safety Car period, closing the gaps between the main victory protagonists. Pic took that opportunity to make his mandatory pit-stop and discarded the soft Pirelli tyres for a set of mediums.

But it was at that same moment the Campos Racing driver saw his podium ambitions unravel when the rear jack man initially failed to raise his car off the ground. Not only did it prevent the mechanics from performing their customary speedy work but also cost Arthur the crucial seconds that allowed Alexander Rossi to nip ahead.

It would prove the key moment of Pic’s race and weekend as he tried in vain to overtake the American around a tight and twisty circuit known for its lack of passing opportunities. He was subsequently able to move up the order and even as high as a points-scoring position before the toll taken by the tyres in pursuit of Rossi severely compromised his pace over the closing stages en route to 13th.

Pic recognised that lining up in the same grid position for Sunday’s Sprint Race would severely limit his chances of scoring points. And, despite some fantastic overtaking moves, that proved to be the case.

A difficult start in the congested midfield initially contributed to another position lost before embarking upon something of a comeback. Diligently managing his medium compound tyres allowed Arthur to demonstrate the same level of performance to that of his entire Hungarian weekend, and after picking up four places he eventually came home 10th.

“Once again we suffered bad luck during the Feature Race, which completely destroyed the weekend as a whole,” said Pic afterwards. “And it’s even more frustrating that we were again very competitive. In fact, during qualifying my combined best splits from across all three sectors added up to the fastest lap of all.

“I made a good start on Saturday afternoon and was leading those drivers who’d opted for the soft tyres. Unfortunately, the problem in the pits cost us five or six seconds and I found myself stuck behind Rossi, whose pace was quite slow. This accelerated the degradation of my tyres and penalised me at the end of the race. Without the pit-stop issue we could have finished on the podium and then started the Sprint Race in the top-eight.

“We’ve been really unlucky on Saturdays over the first half of the season,” he continued. “And when you realise how badly that’s impacted on the weekend’s overall results…. The performance is very clearly there, but it’s not been converted into championship points. I really hope we can rectify the situation during the second half of 2015.”

Arthur will spend the first two weeks of the summer break recharging his batteries before returning to Campos’ base in Valencia to prepare for the next GP2 Series event at Spa-Francorchamps. Round seven takes place over the weekend of August 21-23 as part of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.