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In his 96th Formula 2 race, Ralph Boschung became, for the first time in the series, a winner.



He’s the most experienced driver on the 2023 grid, now with 97 race starts to his name. Most drivers don’t make it close to that amount of races in a feeder series, but Boschung’s story isn’t like most drivers’.
Despite having competed in seven Formula 2 seasons, Boschung is only starting his second full season in the category. Funding issues and injuries have hindered his ability to compete full-time. Contrast that with the story of the other long-term Formula 2 driver on the 2023 grid, Roy Nissany, who has been competing full-time since 2018. Where Boschung has a total of 158.5 points to his name in 97 races, Nissany has just 42 points in 96 races.
It’s easy to judge drivers based purely on their results, but those rarely tell the full story. Boschung’s story is unique in several ways. His constant struggle with funding played a part in his inability to complete a full season for his first four years in Formula 2.
On top of that, the Swiss driver does something most drivers can afford not to do, which is managing all of his sponsorship deals himself. While almost every other driver who makes it to Formula 2 has either a manager or a Formula 1 team or someone similar to handle the behind-the-scenes negotiations, Boschung does it all himself.
His story is one of persistence and hard work, and it could finally be paying off for Boschung, who sits second in the Formula 2 standings after the first round of 2023.
2017-2020: Part-time
For his rookie season of Formula 2, Boschung joined Campos Racing. Campos was a team he’d go on to form a close bond with, racing for them in five of his seven seasons. Unfortunately, Campos was also suffering from funding issues and was unable to run a single driver full-time in 2017. Boschung was the longest-running of any of the six Campos drivers that year, competing in ten of the 11 rounds.



Ahead of the final round of the 2017 season, Campos and Boschung announced that they had parted ways, and Lando Norris replaced him for Abu Dhabi. But Boschung stuck around to complete the post-season test, this time driving for MP Motorsport.
At the end of 2017, he also took part in a Super Formula test but ultimately returned to Formula 2 for his second season in 2018, signing with MP Motorsport.
The 2018 season started off well for Boschung, who finished in the points in the first four races. Unfortunately, his good run ended in Spain, and he failed to finish the next five races. This year, he made it ten rounds into the 12-round season before he was again forced to withdraw due to lack of funding.
2019
But yet again, Boschung managed to find a drive for the following season, switching to his third team in three (partial) seasons, Trident Racing. And again, he made it even fewer rounds than he had the previous year before he ran out of funding, this time only making it five rounds before he was replaced by GP3 driver Ryan Tveter.
He returned to the car two rounds later and competed in Budapest, but after both Trident cars were involved in the crash that resulted in the death of Anthoine Hubert at Spa-Francorchamps, Boschung was left without a seat yet again.
This time, it seemed like it might be for good, as the Swiss driver failed to secure a ride for the 2020 season. But still, he found his way back into Formula 2, if only for the final round with Campos, replacing Jack Aitken (who was replacing George Russell in Formula 1 who was replacing Lewis Hamilton after a COVID diagnosis).



2021: Full-time
Once again managing to find a way (and the necessary funds), Boschung returned to Campos for 2021, this time on a full-time basis. And for the first time since he began competing in 2017, he completed a full season of Formula 2.
Unsurprisingly, 2021 was Boschung’s most successful year yet in Formula 2; after failing to score points in the first three races he scored four top-six finishes in a row.
His first podium in Formula 2, however, wouldn’t come until the penultimate round of the season, when he qualified seventh in Jeddah and made his way up to finish third in the Feature Race.



After waiting almost five seasons for his first podium, Boschung’s second podium came surprisingly quickly, the following round to be exact. Another third place in Abu Dhabi rounded out a tough but successful year for the 24 year-old where he finished tenth overall in the championship with 59.5 points.
2022: Injury
In February of 2022, Boschung announced his newest sponsor: a Swedish cryptocurrency content creator who goes by “The Moon”.
Boschung originally intended for 2022 to be his final year in Formula 2, giving him just two full-time seasons in his six years in the category. But it didn’t work out that way.
In his strongest start to a season yet, Boschung placed fourth in the first two races of the season in Bahrain. Then, in Round 3, he picked up a third-place podium in the Feature Race at Imola. Things were looking good.



After Imola, however, Boschung’s season took a nasty twist. A neck injury led to a diagnosis of severe facet syndrome, something that would go on to hamper him for the rest of the year.
He missed the next two rounds, Spain and Monaco, before returning to race in Baku. He qualified 18th and was classified 15th in the Sprint Race, although a collision with Calan Williams meant he failed to finish the race and was handed a three-place grid drop for the Feature Race. Still, on Sunday he took advantage of a chaotic race and climbed from 21st on the grid to finish ninth and score points.
He returned at Silverstone and qualified 17th, but withdrew from the weekend before the races as his injury was too severe. After sitting out the rounds in Austria, France, and Hungary, Boschung returned at Spa-Francorchamps, still feeling the effects of his neck but ready to race again.
Comeback
At Spa-Francorchamps, Boschung told FormulaNerds in an exclusive interview that he was planning on doing another season in Formula 2, despite his initial plan for this to be his final year.
He also admitted that he still wasn’t feeling totally well and that a full recovery would require more rest than he was willing to commit to.
“For sure it’s a big step compared to Silverstone where I last tried to drive,” he said at the time. “It’s still a long way to go for it to be completely cleared off. I think, realistically speaking, for it to completely go away, I would need to actually stop for the whole season.
“But obviously at some point, there’s a threshold between ‘when can I try again, when is it safe again to race?’ Because obviously, I’ve got my sponsors and the team and everything. We need to keep running the car with me obviously.”
Despite the circumstances, Boschung managed to qualify tenth at Spa, putting him on reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race. Despite having missed over half the races up to that point and dealing with an injury, he managed to hang on to finish third in that race, taking his fourth podium in his first race back.



The final three rounds of the 2022 season would be frustrating, with Boschung failing to score points at all. Still, having missed out on six of the 14 rounds, he finished the year in 15th place, ahead of five full-time drivers, including his Campos teammate Olli Caldwell.
2023: First win
And so, while 2022 was meant to be Boschung’s final year in Formula 2, he signed again with Campos for 2023, bringing him to his seventh year and second full-time season.
In the first round in Bahrain, Boschung proved his pace from the start of the weekend, finishing seventh in free practice and qualifying tenth, within a tenth of fifth place.
Tenth place put him on reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race. Then finally, after seven seasons of negotiating for a seat and for sponsors, 96 race starts, and a neck injury, Ralph Boschung won his first Formula 2 race by ten seconds over Dennis Hauger.



In the press conference after the race, Boschung spoke about why it took so long for him to win a race, where he said: “I mean I think it’s various factors. I think I’ve matured a lot over the years. I maybe stepped up into F2 at the wrong time, when I was not in the right environment, let’s say.
“I always knew that I could do it, but it was just a lot of external factors that weren’t great. Now, finally, I can show my true potential.”
His good weekend didn’t end at the Sprint Race. After starting tenth in the Feature Race, Boschung climbed up to third place on the first lap, and then overtook his rookie teammate Kush Maini to eventually finish second.
Looking ahead
After the first round of the 2023 season, the 25 year-old sits second in the standings behind Theo Pourchaire, and Campos leads the team standings.
What the rest of Boschung’s final Formula 2 season holds remains to be seen. After all, He’s still working on building up his confidence again after 2022, as he told Feeder Series in the post-Sprint press conference.
“I am confident, but I wouldn’t say it’s the most confident, no. I think last year at the beginning of the year, I felt really confident. Since the neck injury, things changed a little bit. I see racing a little bit differently than I did before. I think the confidence takes a little bit of time to come back, but obviously winning like this is going to be a big boost to my confidence.
“I realised that if your health is not there, there’s not much you can do. I was never really worried, I always thought ‘I am young and everything will be fine’, but obviously it can happen to anyone, health issues. I look at [racing] in a different perspective. Obviously, it’s very important to me, but it’s not everything.”
Not all drivers have the luxury of being able to sign for the best teams, compete for a whole season, or even take time off after an injury. Boschung’s story is one of commitment and persistence, as long as you are willing to look past on-paper results and read the full story.
Feature Image Credit: Joe Portlock – Getty Images