Rodin’s Zane Maloney said “I don’t think I ever left the championship fight” despite surrendering an early lead in the FIA Formula 2 Drivers’ standings but falling to fourth before this weekend’s action at the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
Maloney got off to a flying start this F2 campaign, completing a double victory at the season-opening round in Bahrain.
Consistent early season results saw him maintain that championship lead, but a dip in form in recent rounds save for a double podium finish at Silverstone, has seen the Barbadian slip to fourth in the Drivers’ standings.
Still, with a tally of 101 points, 39 behind championship leader Isack Hadjar, Maloney acknowledged that even with a patchy run of results, he is very much within the title picture.
“I don’t think I ever left the championship fight,” Maloney told select media including Motorsport Week.
“I mean until you get to a stage where it’s really unrealistic, I think you’re always in that fight.
“Of course the wins in Bahrain, then the podiums, double podium in Silverstone, podium in Imola, they came right after each other.
“But if you were to dig in at every detail of why we haven’t been on the podium when we haven’t, I think sometimes, of course, you would understand that it’s from my side or the pace, and then other times it was out of our control.”
Maloney said he’s “approaching this weekend the same” at Spa-Francorchamps after a disappointing outing at Hungary.
“I mean, last weekend, I think it was quite clear that two podiums were on the cards, but yeah, we came out of the weekend with zero points,” the Sauber Academy Driver said.
“So I’d say that we’re in a good place. The pace is strong. The mentality is the same within the team as it has been when we won both races in Bahrain.
“So we’re just looking forward to kind of getting it on a sheet of paper because it means nothing without that. But yeah, other than the sheet of paper, everything’s going very well.”
