The 2021 Formula 4 Spanish Championship season came to an end last weekend as the final round took place in Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit. GRS came into this last meeting with Vladislav Ryabov and Lukas Malek, both of whom had a competitive performance on the weekend.
Drivers had Friday to prepare the action with a collective test and a free practice session. Both Ryabov and Malek earned the mileage they needed to face the upcoming days with good pace.
Moving on to Saturday, there was no luck for our drivers on the first qualifying session. With just a few minutes to go, a red flag brought the session to an early end. This situation left Malek and Ryabov with no opportunity to show their potential. The Russian driver qualified on eleventh, but his second-best lap was only good enough to start Race 2 from 24th. Malek, on the other hand, claimed a positive fifteenth place on the grid for Race 2.
On Race 1, Ryabov did not complete lap 1 as he was involved in a collision with another driver and had to retire. Malek made a great comeback, winning several places to finish the race in fourteenth position.
The second qualifying was better for the interests of the team. Ryabov finished seventh and Malek thirteenth. On Race 2, the Russian could only climb up to seventeenth position while the Slovakian finished one place behind his teammate.
On the final race, Ryabov gained two spots to finish in fifth place after a sensational performance. The nº. 26 driver was close to the fight for the podium, but ended up in fifth. On a difficult race, Malek finished in a commendable sixteenth position.
The season is over now for the team and the goals have been achieved. After a difficult start to the year, GRS bounced back and proved to be able to fight at the top of a highly competitive grid. GRS wraps up the 2021 season on fifth place on the Teams’ Championship. As for Ryabov, he finished the Drivers’ Championship in eighth place and the Rookies’ Championship in sixth.
Now it is time to rest but also to start preparing the next year. The growth the tema has been through this year makes us face a bigger challenge in 2022. The new Formula 4 chassis, the Tatuus T-021, will be introduced next year and GRS will be ready to start working with the new machine in F4 Spanish and UAE.
