Callum Ilott closes the gap on Formula Two championship leader Robert Shwartzman at Silverstone
Title-chasing Callum Ilott described his Silverstone weekend in the FIA Formula Two Championship as a "rollercoaster of emotions".
He did not feature on the podium in either race on home soil, but his 10-point haul saw him close the gap to leader Robert Shwartzman, who ended the weekend pointless.
The former Bishop's Stortford College student qualified in second for Saturday's feature race, but stalling on the formation lap meant he had to start at the back of the field and he did exceptionally well to recover to finish fifth.
In Sunday's sprint race, the UNI-Virtuosi Racing driver was served with a five-second time penalty following an early coming together with Yuki Tsunoda which sent his rival into a spin.
Some great driving saw Ilott move up to second by lap 14, but he was unable to get his car going again following a 180-degree spin and he was forced to retire.
Ilott remains second in the overall standings and is now only eight points adrift of Russian Shwartzman ahead of this weekend's meeting, again at Silverstone.
"The feature race was a real rollercoaster of emotions," said Ilott. "The stall on the grid was really unfortunate but these things happen.
"Starting from the pit lane was not ideal, but overtaking is always fun. The race itself was a bit of an exhibition – I had great pace from the get-go and was able to pick my way through the field quite nicely.
"Again we had great pace in the [sprint race] and I showed that by climbing up to second. I had to get a move on to try and limit the damage of the time penalty and managed to clear the cars in front of me and begin chasing down [Dan] Ticktum in the lead.
"It was going well until I clipped the kerb through Vale, which triggered the spin and the engine stalled, leaving me stranded in the middle of the road.
"It was completely my mistake and it's a shame for the team for losing what would have been a great result for us. It's better to look at the positives from the weekend, looking at how fast we know we can be and use that as motivation to come back next weekend and get it right."
