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After an impressive start to 2023 for the Swiss driver, Boschung is feeling confident about his and Campos Racing’s title hopes heading into the third round of the season.
Boschung’s career in Formula 2 has been like a rollercoaster so far, with many ups and downs along the way. However, the most experienced man on the grid this season is showing what he’s made of. Boschung leads the Drivers’ Championship by one point heading into Australia this weekend.
Boschung’s season so far
The 25-year-old claimed his first win in F2 after 96 starts at the season opener in Sakhir. Boschung qualified for the Feature race in tenth. With a reverse grid for the Sprint race, Boschung would start at the very front. He would go on to pick up the victory around the Bahrain International Circuit. His great start continued on the Sunday when he finished in second place in the Feature race.
The second race weekend of the season in Jeddah was a more challenging one for Boschung and Campos Racing. He qualified for the Feature race in ninth and would start the Sprint race in second. Despite his great starting position, he could not emulate his performance from the opening weekend and finished outside of the podium places in fourth. Boschung would then go on to finish the Feature race in P19.
Boschung reflected on his and the teams performance in Saudi Arabia, as he now looks ahead to what he believes will be a more difficult track for the drivers at Albert Park.
“To be honest, we didn’t really struggle with the car in Jeddah. Our pace was similar to Bahrain, our Sprint Race, finishing fourth – we had a potential to finish on the podium even when the pace was quite quick, I just didn’t make the best out of it.”
“Then in the Feature Race we had a different issue, nothing related to our pure performance, so I’m not so worried about that. Obviously now this weekend will be a bit of a gamble I guess for everybody because we don’t know the circuit.”
Boschung’s final season in F2!
Boschung confirmed in an interview with Motorsport.com, that 2023 will be his final year in F2. The Swiss driver has competed in seven F2 seasons and is looking for a new challenge when this campaign concludes.
“Yes, for sure. To be honest, last year was meant to be my last season. And then obviously with the neck injury, once I was healthy I had a talk with my sponsors and the team and they all said the same thing, that they believed I didn’t have the chance to fully prove myself.”
“I was also feeling that, because we obviously had a very good run until the neck problem, so that was really the reason why we said let’s do it again this year, and this will definitely be the last one. So it is definitely the last season.”
“There is already some doors opening, I can’t really mention where or in what, but this will be totally related to my F2 season, purely on results.”
“From a personal point of view, I’ve always been very interested to, at some point, go on the other side of the fence in motorsports. If I will not continue racing for some reason next year, going into management roles, whether it’s drivers or teams.”
Could Boschung become World Champion?
Despite Boschung and Campos Racing currently leading both Championships, the 25-year-old is staying calm and not getting ahead of himself, with plenty of points still up for grabs this season.
“It sounds good for sure but it’s obviously very, very early days. I think the whole top 10 in the Championship is within a couple of points so it doesn’t really mean as much as it might sound. But for sure it’s nice to have that instead of having no points. I’m pretty happy with it.”
“I always say we go race by race. We know our strong points, we know our weak points, generally speaking. So I believe that if you look at the four races we’ve done so far, nobody really dominated. Okay, in Qualifying ART has looked good but, generally speaking, there is not someone that’s just quicker than everybody else. I believe that it’s about minimising the mistakes and just staying out of trouble.”
Boschung will be hoping to maintain his great start to 2023 throughout the whole season. With this being his final year in F2, what a fitting tribute it would be to walk away as world champion after seven years in the sport. Could it happen? We will have to wait and see.
Feature Image Credit: (Photo by Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images)