Christian Mansell put in a spectacular recovery drive to charge from 20th to sixth place in his latest FIA Formula 2 outing at Qatar this past weekend (30 November/1 December), scoring yet more points ahead of a full season tilt in the championship next year.
Fresh from confirmation that he will be competing in F2 for a full campaign next season with Rodin Motorsport, Mansell took that positivity to Qatar for the championship's maiden trip to the Lusail circuit in Doha alongside the penultimate Formula 1 Grand Prix of 2024.
The Aussie youngster from New South Wales enjoyed a thrilling debut at Baku, when he claimed a pole position and points on his first outing with the Trident squad having made the step up from FIA Formula 3 following a strong second season.
Mansell - backed by AJM Transport, Castrol, Vawdrey Trailers, Sargeant Transport and Ultimate Driving Tours - started a learning week looking in contention for more points after a solid showing in Friday morning's free practice session, right on the fringes of the top 10 in the #23 machine.
Hopeful of pushing for that important top-10 spot in qualifying, it unfortunately did not go that way under the lights. With a place inside the top 10 early on, Mansell pushed hard to stay there in the final runs, but a snap of oversteer in a fast section cost him and left him an unrepresentative 20th on the grid.
A 23-lap race the following evening was the first chance to put things right, and he charged forward in the second half of the sprint race. The Australian found himself in a pack of cars that was just out of DRS range, making it tougher to pull onto the tail of his rivals ahead. He worked his way past several cars to an eventual finish of 15th - five spots better off than he started.
Sunday arrived with a second chance to impress in the longer feature race that included a mandatory pit stop, Mansell starting from row ten once again. What followed was a chaotic contest, Mansell evading trouble early on to climb two spots before making a key decision to pit early on - just as the safety car emerged for the first time.
It meant that the Rush Performance, Infinity Sports Management, IOR Petroleum, AMSL Diabetes Australia and NTI-backed driver was strategically well-placed to gain on several drivers ahead who had not pitted by the time the safety car was deployed for a second time.
On the restart, Mansell expertly dodged his spinning team-mate Esterson, moving up to 12th place. With pace to burn on the Medium Pirellis, he continued his climb up the order. As those ahead pitted, he soon found himself in the points-paying positions, coming home to take the chequered flag in a brilliant sixth place to add to his points total in front of the F1 crowds.
Christian Mansell: “What a crazy end to the weekend! It started off not going the way we had planned, but luck levelled itself out in the end and it feels great to bring home points for the Trident team once again.
"Frustration was definitely the kindest word I could find about qualifying. I just had a snap in a very fast corner and took the safest option, but it meant we were down the order and needing to make up for it in the races.
"P15 in race one was a sign that we had some more pace to play with, and we moved forward throughout. It was definitely a shame that people spun off in front of me on lap one, and I had to take avoiding action. Then on Sunday we called the early pit stop perfectly just before the safety cars came into play.
"We chipped away and got the results at the end of it. With a drive in place for next year and a good finish to the weekend, it's a great place to be in right now, so let's keep that positive energy going into the final weekend in Abu Dhabi!"
Mansell will be in action for one final time this coming weekend (7/8 December) as the FIA Formula 2 Championship season concludes at the Yas Marina circuit in support of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Images from Dutch Photo Agency.
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