The HWA Racelab team has announced that former Formula 2 driver and Williams Formula 1 reserve driver, Jack Aitken, will return to Formula 2. The British-Korean driver will replace Matteo Nannini for the second and third rounds of the Formula 2 Championship – at Monaco and Baku respectively.
Written by Andrew Lwanga, Edited by Aiden Hover
The decision follows Nannini’s decision to focus on Formula 3 for the remainder of the season. Nannini was initially running a dual campaign in both the Formula 2 and Formula 3 Championships with HWA.
The 17 year old Italian scored two top ten finishes in the Formula 2 season opener at Bahrain, this was followed by a podium in the Formula 3 season opener in Spain with the announcement coming on the back end of a podium result.
Nannini revealed that the prime reason for this was the loss of a prime sponsor who were originally backing his duel campaign. Nannini turned to Twitter to say:
“Unfortunately I am announcing that I will no longer compete in FIA F2 this year.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, my main sponsor Celli Spa decided not to keep supporting my dual campaign.”
“I’ll continue racing in FIA F3, which turns into my sole focus for the remainder of the season. I’m feeling confident and motivated to complete a successful season with HWA RaceLab from the French GP onwards, being up for any challenge along the way.”
HWA Team Principal Thomas Strick spoke about the driver switch stating, “We are delighted to have acquired such a talented driver as Jack. With his wealth of experience in Formula 2, he is sure to be a great help to us.”
“In the case of Matteo, we will be focussing on the FIA Formula 3 Championship for the rest of the season. He has already shown his potential in that series at the start of the season.”
Aitken, who currently competes in the GT World Challenge Europe with Emil Frey Racing, was in Formula 2 for two seasons from 2018 to 2019 where he finished fifth in the standings. This earned him the 40 Super License points required for Formula 1 and, although he was unable to find a full time seat, he made his debut in the pinnacle of motorsport at the back end of 2020 – replacing George Russell at Williams as he himself was called up to the Silver Arrows.
“I was surprised but also very honoured that HWA asked me to support the team in Monaco and Baku,” said Aitken.
“They are two of my favourite circuits and it is going to be a real pleasure. I know HWA from races in the past, in which we have competed against each other.”
“I have always been aware of their high standard. I am looking forward to returning to Formula 2 and working with HWA, in order to get the absolute maximum out of the two weekends.”
Aitken’s duties will commence on Thursday as Formula 2 returns for round 2 at Monaco.
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