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Mansell will join Trident for three events to end the 2024 Formula 2 season, starting this weekend in Azerbaijan.
The young Australian is stepping up after completing two seasons in Formula 3, which netted seven podium finishes; four seconds and three thirds.
The 19-year-old is now eyeing a move into Formula 2 next season with a stint with Trident this year a toe-in-the-water ahead of that move.
“It’ll be the biggest challenge to date,” Mansell told Speedcafe of the step up to Formula 2.
“I guess the sort of general philosophy of how I approach a race weekend doesn’t really change all that much because my philosophy is to just go out there and deliver the absolute maximum of myself in the car.
“I think in this stage, in the learning stage of my Formula 2 career, I think that’s probably the best approach you can have.
“It’s just a good approach to just take it session by session and just keep building.”
The cameo follows a similar approach ahead of his F3 debut in 2023 when he completed two races with Charouz Racing Systems midway through 2022.
The intent now is similar to what it was then; learn the car and F2 weekend such that when he gets behind the wheel full-time next season he’s able to focus purely on driving.
“All the little stuff, I just want it to be second nature,” he said.
“Once you can do that, the driving becomes a million times easier.
“I’m at the stage in my career where I can drive a car fast but it’s about… if I was to jump in a Formula 1 car, I need to know every single procedure; what the steering wheel does, how the car reacts if I hold the brake into the corner, or if I go really aggressive on the throttle.
“There’s just certain things that are going to be very foreign for me this weekend that I’m going to go ‘Alright, well that’s different to the F3 car; oh, well that’s similar to the F3 car’.
It’s those little things that aren’t 100 percent, by the end of Abu Dhabi, they’ll be 100 percent, and that’s sort of my goal.”
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The opportunity to step into the Trident came courtesy of Roman Stanek’s decision not to see out the season.
The 20-year-old Czech was in his second season in F2, though aside from victory in the Sprint in Australia this year, has failed to shine.
Sitting 21st of 22 regular drivers in the championship, he’s elected to step away with three events remaining.
The deal to place Mansell in his place was inked over the Italian Grand Prix weekend, the final round of the F3 season where the Novocastrian was classified third in a stunning Feature race.
He only learned he’d see out the season racing in Formula 2 once his responsibilities on track had ended that weekend.
“About an hour and a half after the Feature race I was told that I was going to be driving in Baku for Trident,” he revealed.
“It was actually settled on the Friday morning; I had no idea.
“I didn’t really need to know at the time because I think, if I’d found out, it probably would have skewed my judgment a little bit.
“The Feature race was such a mega race and then it was just, bang, you’re in Baku, your year’s not over, you’re still driving.”
Following the Monza event, Mansell visited the Trident factory, located just north of Milan in northern Italy.
There, he reacquainted himself with the team, which ran him in a one-off post-season F2 test in the previous-generation car.
“It’s about 40 minutes outside of central Milan, and a really lovely, lovely factory,” Mansell described.
“They manage the space really well and also just the resources they have; the simulator has been very good.
“The people are very positive and I’m really enjoying the settling in process; I feel very, very welcome within the team, which is always nice.”
The Baku round of the Formula 2 season runs in support of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend.
Mansell will have a single practice session on Friday morning to get his eye in, his first taste of the current F2 car, ahead of qualifying later in the day.
He’ll then take part in a 21-lap Sprint on Saturday ahead of the 29-lap Feature race on Sunday, the curtain raiser to the F1 race.
