Sean Gelael

Muhammad Sean Ricardo Gelael (born 1 November 1996 in Jakarta, Indonesia), better known simply as Sean Gelael, is an Indonesian racing driver whom competed in the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship for DAMS. The son of Ricardo Gelael, boss of the Indonesian Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise, Gelael spent four and a half seasons at GP2/F2 level, having made his debut back in 2015.

After completing the 2015 with Carlin, Gelael would move to Campos Racing for a full GP2 campaign in 2016. Backed with money from "Pertamina", his father's business, Gelael scored a single podium finish during the season, en-route to fifteenth in the Championship.

Gelael remained in the Series through its transformation into the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2017, although he would move to the Arden team. With Pertamina once again acting as a title sponsor, Gelael proved unable to match the heights he reached in 2016, scoring just four points finishes as he claimed fifteenth in the Championship.

For 2018 Gelael secured a move to Prema Racing, with Pertamina once again transferring their colours to support the Indonesian racer's campaign. Gelael's form improved in 2018, with the Indonesian racer again standing on the podium, although he could still only muster fifteenth in the Championship with 29 points after a fairly anonymous campaign.

2019 saw Gelael remain with Prema, partnering Ferrari Driver Academy member Mick Schumacher. However, after initially having an advantage over his young teammate, Gelael's season soon deteriorated, with the Indonesian racer even withdrawing from the Silverstone races in protest of a penalty. Come the end of the season Gelael had scored fifteen points and seventeenth in the Championship.

Regardless, Gelael secured his fifth full season at F2/GP2 level with a move to DAMS for the 2020 Season, partnering Dan Ticktum. However, after a season dominated by mechanical failures, Gelael would end up on the side-lines as a collision with Jack Aitken at the 2020 Barcelona Feature Race saw the Indonesian racer sustain a spinal fracture.

Background
Gelael began his career in karting, most notably winning the Asian Karting Open Championship in 2011 ahead of a move into full blooded car racing. Indeed, Gelael would secure a drive in the Formula Pilota China, ending the season fourth overall. That earned him a one-off drive in Formula Abarth, and the attention of several teams in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship.

European Dreams
Gelael duly transferred his colours to the European racing scene in 2013, joining the European F3 Championship as well as the British Formula 3 series. A relatively low-key debut campaign saw Gelael out-performed by teammate Antonio Giovinazzi in the UK, while the Indonesian racer failed to claim any points in Europe. For 2014 Gelael switch his attentions solely to the European version of F3, and duly managed to prove he could be a point scorer.

Gelael's 2015 plans would originally be formed around a maiden campaign in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, partnering Tom Dillmann. However, Gelael would receive a call mid-season to join Carlin's GP2 Series team, and duly signed up for GP2 for the rest of the season. He would, however, complete his FR duties, ending that campaign in nineteenth.

GP2/Formula 2 History
Gelael's first jump into the GP2 Series came midway through the 2015 campaign, with Carlin hiring the Indonesian rookie. His debut came at the 2015 Hungaroring Feature Race, with a quiet afternoon resulting in a lowly eighteenth place. A twentieth in the Sprint would follow, before another quiet pair of races in Spa.

A DAMS Demand: 2020
For the 2020 Season Gelael secured a move to the DAMS squad, which had won the Teams' Championship in 2019, partnering Williams F1 junior driver Dan Ticktum. The Indonesian racer would go on to start the season by being beaten by his rookie teammate by half a second in qualifying for the 2020 Red Bull Ring Feature Race, before retiring in the opening stages with an engine issue. A suspected knock-on effect from that issue would then cause Gelael to retire from the second race on the Sunday.

A week later and Gelael would enjoy a stronger run in the 2020 Spielberg Feature Race, again at the Red Bull Ring, sweeping to tenth place in heavy rain despite starting down in sixteenth. Gelael went on to have a staring role in a rather drab Spielberg Sprint, as he engaged Jack Aitken and Nikita Mazepin in a race long fight for sixth, with Gelael ultimately ending up in seventh. However, Gelael would sink back to his familiar, back of the field, finishing a lap down in seventeenth with an anonymous performance in the Hungaroring Feature, before jumping to twelfth in the Sprint having been one of the early adopters of an ambitious medium-soft tyre strategy.

For the 2020 Silverstone Feature Race Gelael would try another alternate tyre strategy, and would run in the points during the middle phase of the race, although he was unable to exploit his softer medium tyres in the closing stages. The Indonesian racer would again make a tyre gamble in the Silverstone Sprint, although DAMS made a mess of his late pit call and released Gelael with a loose front left wheel, ending his race before he left the pitlane. A week later and Gelael's only contribution to the 2020 Anniversary Feature Race at Silverstone would be to spin in qualifying to settle the grid, before becoming the race's only retirement with an unspecified issue. The Indonesian racer then sat out the Anniversary Sprint due to a gearbox failure, with his plague of issues prompting F2 CEO Bruno Michel to comment that it painted the entire series in a poor light.

It was the Barcelona Feature Race that would dictate Gelael's campaign, however, as an accident late and kerb strike ended his season. Indeed, having collided with Giuliano Alesi mid-race to trigger a Safety Car, Gelael would try to lunge inside Jack Aitken, only for the pair to clash wheels which sent the #1 DAMS into the air. Gelael then crashed back down atop a sausage kerb on the outside of the corner, with the Indonesian racer requiring an extraction by the marshals before being taken to hospital.

Gelael was later revealed to have sustained a fractured vertebra, which was likely to rule him out for the rest of the season, albeit with a vague hope of taking part in the season finale in Bahrain. His DAMS seat was taken by Jüri Vips for following round in Spa.

Post GP2/Formula 2 Career
Gelael would get a run of four Free Practice sessions for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One during the 2017 season, with run outs in Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico and the US. Gelael also had a run in the 2016 European Le Mans Series, as well as the 2016 World Endurance Championship.

Full GP2/Formula 2 Record
Shown below are a series of tables outlining 's career in Formula 2 in statistical form.

GP2/Formula 2 Entries
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for during their F2 career:

Career Results
Below is a table showing 's full GP2/Formula 2 record.


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