The series’ longest-ever season came to a close, as recently has been tradition, at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. With the Championship already sealed, the phrase of the weekend was ‘Super Licence’ as third-placed Logan Sargent headed into the round knowing a F1 seat at Williams was waiting. That is, pending on his results.
The paddock welcomes a new face in Zane Maloney, the Bajan driver joined the Trident team in place of Calan Williams with a view to a 2023 drive in the series after finishing runner-up in the FIA Formula 3 series with the Italian outfit.
In a weekend dominated by wholesome moments, Juan Manual Correa returned to F2 for the first time since the tragic events at Spa in 2019, which left the American driver requiring significant rehabilitation for injuries suffered. He joined the Van Amersfoort Racing outfit, replacing David Beckmann.
As ever with the final round, we’re feeling extra generous so picking out the top performers from the weekend, here’s the report cards from round 14 of the 2022 season:
Top of the Class:
Liam Lawson – Qualifying: 9th | Sprint: 1st (+FL) | Feature: 3rd
If you were to tell the Kiwi during the midseason slump that he’d be finishing the 2022 season in 3rd place, he’d have probably laughed at you, yet here we are after another double-podium seeing Liam claim a deserved high-note to end what has been a character-building season. Pipping teammate Logan Sargeant to P3 in the standings will be a bitter pill to swallow since it’s Logan getting the F1 drive for 2023.
Qualifying 9th meant that he had a front-row start and whilst it took a few opportunities, he was able to pass Richard Verschoor to dominate the final Sprint Race of the season, taking the chequered flag by over 8 seconds to seal his fourth win of 2022.
On Sunday, Liam made a solid start and an aggressive early-stop strategy paid off as he was able to move up to the podium places, although couldn’t quite challenge the battling two up front. Nonetheless, a strong weekend for him and Carlin in F2, along with a free practice run in the Red Bull was the cherry on top of a sweet end to 2022.
Liam’s expected to continue under the Red Bull family in the Super Formula series in Japan in 2023, alongside his test and reserve duties for the Red Bull & AlphaTauri F1 teams. With that Super Licence already secured, Lawson may come into play for a 2024 seat.
Ayumu Iwasa – Qualifying: 1st | Sprint: 13th| Feature: 1st
A brief blip on Saturday won’t detract from Ayumu’s strongest weekend in F2 since the French round in July. For a second time this season, the Japanese driver took pole on Friday and a lights-to-flag victory in Sunday’s Feature Race at Yas Marina.
He did so despite huge pressure from Champion Felipe Drugovich, including a last-lap battle into turn 9 which he was able to survive. The result saw Ayumu finish an astonishing P5 in a DAMS outfit that has struggled in recent seasons.
He will likely be the highest returning driver in F2 for 2023, so all eyes should be on the Japanese driver to potentially cause further headaches for the Red Bull junior programme in all the best ways. Translating the pace shown at Paul Ricard and Abu Dhabi into a season campaign will certainly put Iwasa in good stead.
Amaury Cordeel – Qualifying: 8th | Sprint: 5th | Feature: 6th
The Belgian driver has taken a fair amount of flack this season, from myself included, as he looked out of his depth on a number of occasions. None more so highlighted by being banned from round 7 at Silverstone for collecting too many penalty points. Yet since then, his form has improved and the season-ending round at Yas Marina was by far his strongest outing in F2.
The Van Amersfoort driver qualified P8, took home a solid P5 having run around the fringes of the podium during Saturday’s Sprint Race and progressed a couple of positions to take P6 on Sunday.
The remarkable upturn in form saw the Belgian score points in four of the last five races in 2022, and the P6 on Sunday equalled his best result of the season in Zandvoort, although this round had far less carnage impacting the results.
It was a slow start for Amaury, but to end his rookie season 17th in the Championship and aiding his team to a P10 finish in the Team’s Championship should give Cordeel some confidence heading into 2023.
Felipe Drugovich – Qualifying: 4th | Sprint: 3rd | Feature: 2nd
I couldn’t do this list without a mention to our 2022 Champion, who also got to take the Aston Martin F1 car for a Free Practice outing at the weekend. The Brazilian was in superior form through the entirety of the 2022 season for MP and the Yas Marina round was no different.
Taking his 10th and 11th podium finishes of the season, Felipe finished a whopping 101 points clear of vice Champion, Théo Pourchaire, having secured the title at a canter in Monza back in September. He kept a calm head to progress in both races as well at Yas Marina to top off a simply brilliant campaign.
There was also cause for celebration on Sunday as his team secured their first ever Team’s title honours, in large part thanks to Drugovich with the Brazilian securing 265 of MP’s 305 points. Of course, with the crown it means that F2 also bids farewell to Drugovich, and it’s ultimately a shame he hasn’t landed a race seat for next season.
However, a number of F2 Champions have had to bide their time before joining the grid, with Oscar Piastri being a prime example of this. The Brazillian will be getting some Free Practice outings at Aston Martin for 2023 and it will be interesting to see where the jigsaw for the 2024 grid forms for Felipe.
Honourable mentions:
I’ll forgive the contact in both races because seeing Correa back in the Formula 2 paddock was the feel-good story motorsport fans can all unite behind. Considering the horror smash that lelf him on life support, and having to undertake rehabilitation during the height of the Covid pandemic, Juan Manuel’s return to the car has been inspirational. What particularly highlighted this return was that Correa was immediately on the pace and qualified a respectable 18th on the grid.
The second one goes to Logan Sargeant, the Carlin driver’s steady yet mature drive this weekend ensured his graduation with Williams after finishing P4 in the Standings, picking up the Anthoine Hubert award for the highest-placing rookie this season. Qualifying 5th, finishing 6th and 5th in the Sprint Races was more than enough for the American. You could tell the nerves were there over the radio, but overall it’s been a phenomenal campaign for Logan and it will be interesting to see how he fares in F1 next year, especially since he’s the first American on the grid since 2015!
With the season coming to an end, it’s expected that at least the top four driver’s from the 2022 season will leave. Drugovich and Sargeant joining F1 in Aston martin reserve and Williams respectively, whilst runner-up Théo Pourchaire and third-place Liam Lawson are likely to be heading to the Super Formula series in Japan. This leaves the 2023 F2 season wide up for anyone to stake their claim to follow in Felipe’s footsteps to glory.
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