With the driver market chaos in F1, this weekend is one of a few opportunities the F2 drivers have left to stake a claim for one of the vacant seats. This triple header of Belgium-Netherlands-Italy will be critical for setting up a potential title decider in November in Abu Dhabi, but it’s also a prime opportunity to win over teams like Alpine, Alfa Romeo and Williams – who have yet to cement their line ups for 2023.
After dropping off the calendar in 2021 due to the format change, F2 returned to Belgium in 2022. The series itself had a bit of a driver merry-go-round in the summer break as four seats changed hands. We’ll delve into that before showcasing the stars and strugglers from Round 11 of the 2022 Season:
Driver Changes:
Campos: The Spanish squad saw changes in both sides of the garage, with Ralph Boschung returning to race fitness following a diagnosis of facet syndrome that has plagued him in previous rounds of this season. The Swiss driver last raced at Baku, after which he missed out on running in the Feature Race in Spain followed with withdrawal / being replaced for Silverstone, Spielberg, Paul Ricard & Budapest. His return relinquished Roberto Merhi’s duties as super-sub, who capped off his incredible performance with his podium in the Austria Feature Race.
As reported in the Hungary Report Cards, Olli Caldwell became the second driver this season to hit the 12-point threshold on his Super Licence, thus earning a round ban (which effectively extends his summer break). He was replaced by Lirim Zendelli, who competed 6 of the 8 rounds in 2021 for MP Motorsport.
Charouz: The Czech squad replaced Turkish driver Cem Bölükbaşı with Tatiana Calderón. The Colombian had previously competed the 2019 season with the BWT Arden team as teammate to the late Anthoine Hubert, who sadly passed in an accident in the Feature Race at Spa-Francorchamps that season. She had moved to IndyCar with the AJ Foyt team for 2022, but budget issues cut short her participation.
Van Amersfoort Racing: After missing the Austria-Hungary double header due to Covid, British Racer Jake Hughes called time on his F2 campaign to focus on his commitments with Formula E. He was replaced by the 2022 F2 super-sub David Beckmann, who filled Hughes’ seat during his illness.
Top of the Class:
Jack Doohan – Qualifying: 4th | Sprint: 2nd | Feature: 1st
Keep tabs on the Australian, as the Alpine Junior shone bright once again, just a year after taking two wins here in FIA Formula 3. Despite qualifying over half a second behind polesitter Felipe Drugovich, Jack was otherwise in imperious form around Spa.
In Saturday’s Sprint Race, Doohan made a quick start to move up from 7th to 4th, with Prema’s Jehan Daruvala failing to start making said progress slightly easier. He picked off ART’s Théo Pourchaire to take P4 along the Kemmel Straight and began settling into the race.
By lap 6 he was up in the podium places after taking P3 from Trident’s Richard Verschoor into Les Combes, he later improved on that result by taking P2 with a last lap overtake at the same place on Boschung.
Sunday saw the Australian take his first Feature Race victory, bolting to P2 from the start. He then kept within two seconds of polesitter Felipe Drugovich, pulling off an advantageous undercut by pitting on lap 10, cycling out in front when the Brazilian pitted a lap later.
All Doohan had to do was clear the alternate runners, and he did. Although VAR’s Amaury Cordeel certainly won’t be on the Christmas Card list, as he held up Doohan around the final sector which cut his 4 second lead down to under the DRS threshold.
Despite this setback, Doohan would then pull clear after the alternate runners pitted to take victory by just under two seconds, his first Feature Race victory in F2. The weekend’s haul of 43 points moving Doohan up to P4 in the Driver’s Standings, and that would be enough for a Super Licence should Alpine come knocking.
Liam Lawson – Qualifying: 6th | Sprint: 1st (+FL) | Feature: 3rd
It was an excellent weekend to be an ANZAC driver, as Carlin’s Liam Lawson also achieved a double podium in Spa. Besides that, he also got to take Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri for a run in F1 Free Practice, capping off a brilliant weekend for the Kiwi.
In spite of being shown the grass by Pourchaire on the run to La Source, Lawson found himself P2 on the opening lap. He then managed to take the lead from Campos’ Boschung along the Kemmel Straight on lap 2 and never looked back.
In spite of a Safety Car on lap 10 following a crash for teammate Logan Sargeant, Lawson was comfortably ahead of Doohan when the chequered flag fell, taking his third victory of the season.
Lawson made a strong start on Sunday, picking off teammate Sargeant to run 5th. Followed by an enthralling battle with Charouz’s Enzo Fittipaldi for P4, with Liam finally getting past at Les Combes on lap 5 after some wheel banging and cutting the chicane.
It was a bit of lonely race from there as Lawson would ultimately cycle out in front of the alternate running Verschoor to come home P3. The result moves Liam up to P5 in the Championship Standings and hauls him closer to teammate Sargeant in P3. Momentum has swiftly moved with Lawson after that difficult patch post-Jeddah.
Felipe Drugovich – Qualifying: 1st | Sprint: 4th | Feature: 2nd (+FL)
After an anonymous weekend in Budapest, Drugovich capitalised on title rival Théo Pourchaire’s misfortunes to reinstate a healthy margin in the Driver’s standings. The MP Motorsport driver set a 1:58.232 in qualifying, nearly four tenths clear of his nearest rival to claim the two bonus points.
On Saturday, Felipe progressed from 10th to P6, but a mid-race Safety Car for Sargeant’s crash led to the team gambling on fresh softs, which dropped Felipe down to 12th on the road.
With up to a 4-second-a-lap benefit on fresh tyres, the Brazilian progressed up to P4, crucially also passing Pourchaire on the way to nudge a further two points clear in the standings.
On Sunday, Felipe did pretty much everything right to take his fourth Feature Race win of the season, only to lose out on the undercut. Despite this, Drugovich now heads to Zandvoort as a clear Championship favourite as he increases his lead to 43 points.
Surprisingly, the Brazilian has barely featured in the F1 driver market, but he’s doing all the right things to get his name out there.
The struggle bus:
Prema
Dennis Hauger – Qualifying: 11th | Sprint: 10th | Feature: 12th (demoted from 11th due to penalties)
Jehan Daruvala – Qualifying: 9th | Sprint: DNS | Feature: 20th
It was a tough weekend for Prema, as it swept the Driver’s and Team’s titles in 2021. Neither driver really threatened to score points in Belgium and have earned their top spot on the bottom of this list.
Both qualified well, but Dennis barely progressed in the Sprint, ironically the only position he gained was because teammate Daruvala had an issue on the formation lap that prevented him from starting the race.
On Sunday, Hauger’s race was marred with a total of 10-seconds worth of penalties for track limits and forcing another car of the track, whilst Jehan had to make two pitstops following contact with DAMS’s Roy Nissany at the bus stop.
Enzo Fittipaldi – Qualifying: 2nd | Sprint: 12th | Feature: 10th (demoted from 5th due to penalty)
The Brazilian has been a star in 2022 thus far, but this is a weekend he won’t be looking back on in the highlights reel any time soon. The Charouz driver made it an all-Brazilian front row during qualifying, but went backwards in both races.
He finished 12th in the Sprint Race having started 9th, a net loss of four places considering Daruvala’s issue. He took the chequered flag in 5th during the feature race, but was given a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage in the battle with Lawson.
With a P2 in qualifying, Enzo will be disappointed to walk away from Belgium with just a solitary point, but there’s still 3 rounds to go and I’m sure this hasn’t harmed his efforts for a top F2 seat in 2023.
Théo Pourchaire’s ART
Granted an average start to the weekend meant that Théo slipped to 25 points behind title rival Drugovich, but you have to feel sorry for the Frenchman following an issue on Sunday that caused him to retire from P6 on Sunday.
I don’t believe Pourchaire had the ultimate pace to challenge for a podiumposition, but the gap is now back to 43 points after having diminished it considerably with his brilliant weekend in Budapest.
It is wretched luck for the Sauber junior, especially considering all the cars are equal. There are still 3 rounds to go, but even a Double-DNF in Zandvoort for Drugovich would still see him in the lead no matter what Pourchaire does. The lead does seem pretty unassailable at this point, which is a shame for the title fight.
The F2 paddock doesn’t get a rest either, as they also join F1 in a short hop across to Zandvoort for round 12 of the season on the weekend of 3rd & 4th September. With a strong round for Felipe coupled with Pourchaire’s reliability woes, Felipe Drugovich is the overwhelming favourite heading into the final three rounds.
But you can never take anything for granted in the series, so it is worth watching to see if Théo can bounce back. It will also be intriguing to see if any of the chasing pack can earn a spotlight in light of recent events in F1.
