Team Trident ready to start promising Formula 2 season in Bahrain 04.04.2018: FIA F2 Championship, Sakhir Preview The new and eagerly awaited edition of the FIA Formula 2 Championship is set to start at the Shakir circuit. After having impressed in pre-season testing

FIA F2 Championship, Sakhir Preview

The new and eagerly awaited edition of the FIA Formula 2 Championship is set to start at the Shakir circuit. After having impressed in pre-season testing, Team Trident and its two drivers are looking forward to delivering again in the 2018 opener.



It is finally time to re-start the engines for a new season in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, and the two Team Trident drivers, Santino Ferrucci and Arjun Maini, are expected to play a leading role.



The season will feature 12 rounds, all of which in the Formula 1 Grand Prix environment, and the Team Trident banner will be defended by two young and extremely talented individuals. Ferrucci, a 19-year-old American from Connecticut, and Maini, a 20-year-old Indian from Bangalore, are both part of the Team Haas F.1 program with official development driver roles.



The two racers delivered brilliant performances in the two collective test sessions held in Le Castellet and Shakir before the new season. In France, the two drivers fielded by the Milan-based squad focused on the tuning of the car, the Dallara F.2 2018, which was designed with the specific goal of creating an even closer link between the series and Formula 1.



The chassis will use a brand-new Mecachrome 3.4 liter V6 turbo engine with 620 horsepower. Also, the halo safety system was introduced. After gaining valuable insight into the car's set-up at Le Castellet (the venue will host a championship round in June) Team Trident also focused on performance in the successive session in Bahrain.



Under the close guidance of the Team Trident technical staff, Maini and Ferrucci monopolized the top positions in every session. Maini also set the second fastest time ever on the Bahrain International Circuit, now set for the start of a new era.



On the hot middle eastern track, there will be many unknowns to manage for the team's personnel, as thermal degradation will be particularly high and there is still something to discover about the new car in race trim.



Giacomo Ricci, Team Manager:


"This year, the work to prepare for the new season has been particularly intense. We had to assemble two new cars, do the first shakedown, and then start searching for their secrets. With the 2018 machinery, there are many correlations with Formula 1.



The link between Formula 2 and the upper category has become even tighter, and the bar keeps rising. Our two drivers worked very positively with the team's technical staff in collective testing at Le Castellet and Shakir, where they left a strong mark thanks to their extremely quick lap times, even during long runs.



 I am confident that we will see them fight at the top since the very start. For Arjun, it will be the series debut, while Santino Ferrucci worked well with us last year. I am sure we will continue heading in the right direction together".





The FIA F2 Championship cars will hit the track Friday at 11:30 local time for the free practice session. The qualifications will then be held on the same day at 8.00 pm.



 The Trident Team drivers will be back on-track on Saturday, with the Feature Race scheduled at 1:10 pm, while the Sprint Race will start on Sunday at 2:15 pm.



As usual, all the events on the track will be followed live by Sky Sports. Beware of the time zone difference: there is a 1-hour difference between Bahrain and continental Europe (Bahrain is +1).




TRIDENT MOTORSPORT - also photo