What do Formula 2 drivers do in their spare time?

The F2 Championship makes a return this weekend after a one-month break from racing.

UNI-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou, Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala and Campos’ Ralph Boschung spoke about what they did in the month break that they had in between the race weekend in Baku, Azerbaijan and this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung took the question first as the Swiss driver highlighted that it was key to keep yourself in the best shape possible ahead of the race weekends.

“Most of the time you spend is practising in a simulator, being in and around the team, training at the factory and preparing yourself physically.

“We have a long gap in between the races so it is crucial to train and prepare yourself as hard as you can for the race weekends to be able to score the most amount of points possible.”

Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala was next as he expressed how good it was to be able to do things with other people with the Indian driver spending time with fellow Red Bull Academy drivers, Juri Vips and Liam Lawson.

“We’ve had quite a lot of time off so we’ve had time to spend with the team and with the spare time I’ve been able to keep myself fit by going to the gym and whatnot.

“I’ve been hanging out quite often with Juri [Vips] and Liam [Lawson]. Juri’s been at my house actually for a couple of weeks and we went and played squash and trained together.

“We wanted to spend some time together before Silverstone because we’ve got to be careful that we remain in our bubbles, but it was quite cool to spend some time with Juri, Liam and the other guys.”

F2 Championship leader and UNI-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou said that all the “normal things” have to be done in order to stay prepared for each round.

“I think the normal stuff we do so the simulator and the gym. Maybe I’ve spent too much time in the gym because I either train in my city or come to Enstone with the boys [relating to the Alpine Academy].

“We had some sports days playing tennis and badminton together and just spending time with the team. Nothing extremely different but the only difference is probably spending less time in the simulator.

“We do not have one at the UNI-Virtuosi factory and have to go abroad to use it and with COVID it is extremely hard to do that.”

The three drivers now face the challenge of navigating their way around the Silverstone track and staying clear of danger as consistent point scoring has rewarded many drivers this season.

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