Christian Mansell has been given the chance to race the final three rounds of the Formula 2 championship in 2024 with Trident.
The Italian team opted to part company with Roman Stanek after the round at Monza. The Czech driver only managed three points finishes from the 22 races in competed in, one of those being a victory at the Sprint Race in Australia.
In need of a second driver, Mansell was drafted in to replace Stanek for the remainder of the season. The Aussie completed his sophomore season in Formula 3 in 2024, finishing fifth in the standings with five podiums for ART Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old made his Formula 2 debut in Baku, where he qualified in 10th. The result meant that he started the Sprint Race on Saturday from the front of the grid, but Mansell fell backwards and finished eighth, registering his first point in F2.
In the Feature Race, after a horror crash on the grid at the race start, Mansell remained in tenth and secured his second point in the category.
Christian Mansell has ‘no expectations’ heading into Qatar after his Formula 2 debut in Baku
With two rounds of the championship to go in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, Mansell has a short period of time to prove himself and potentially earn a full-time seat in 2025.
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With Stanek out of the team, Trident are in need of a second driver and with Mansell’s solid display in Baku, the 19-year-old stands a good chance of landing the drive full-time if he can perform well in the final two rounds. However, Trident team manager Giacomo Ricci has stressed that Mansell still has a lot to learn in F2.
Speaking with the F2 website, Mansell is not looking too far ahead and has ‘no expectations’ going into the race at Qatar as he hopes to land a full-time seat in the championship next year.
“I haven’t really thought much about that,” he said. “To be fair, I’m just sort of taking it race by race really, because I think that’s all you can really do.
“There’s no point stressing about what’s going to happen in Qatar while I’m sitting in Baku. So, it’s going to be a very intense weekend for all intents and purposes, but, if something’s out of my control, then it’s out of my control.
“But if I can obviously make an impact and have a good result with the team, I would be over the moon. I don’t think anyone in Trident would complain about a good result and I would also be very, very happy.
“I’ve got no expectations to tell you the truth. I mean literally, I just want to get as much information as I possibly can. It’s the same thing as winning in F3 – I would love for a great result to happen, but if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t, it’s just fate.
“At the end of the day, I’m always going to try my hardest, and, I’ll come back here hopefully next year, fingers crossed and everything, the walls will be a little bit further away, and it’ll feel much more easy. But this is the reason why I’m doing these last few races, it’s to just get that experience, hopefully to put in to practice ready for next year.”
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Richard Verschoor secured his and Trident’s first win of 2024 in Baku
Trident enjoyed an impressive weekend in Azerbaijan as along with Mansell’s points-scoring finishes on debut, teammate Richard Verschoor secured his first win of the season.
It was third time lucky for Verschoor in Baku, as he had won the Sprint Races in Saudi Arabia and Hungary, but was disqualified from both events at the end of the race.
The Dutchman took pole position in qualifying, but after the top 10 were reversed for the Sprint Race, Verschoor dropped down from 10th to 17th in the event.
The 23-year-old converted pole to victory in the Feature Race and secured his first win of the year. Verschoor moves to 10th in the drivers’ standings and continues his streak of winning an F2 race in every season he has competed in.