After another frustratingly lengthy gap between rounds, Formula 2 was back for round 5 of the 2021 season at Monza, Italy. The lay-off also saw a driver merry-go-round with David Beckmann moving from Charouz to Campos, replacing Matteo Nannini, who would miss his home round. Formula 3 driver Enzo Fittipaldi slotted in at Charouz whilst Jake Hughes, who stood in for the Sochi round at HWA in 2020, returned to the team in place of Jack Aitken, who was injured in a heavy crash at the 24 hours of Spa race back in August.

Whilst the usual names were at the front of the field – there were a few stellar drives from some new faces that will shake up this edition of the report cards:

Top of the class:

Oscar Piastri – Qualifying: 1^st | Sprint 1: 4^th(promoted from 5^th due to penalties) | Sprint 2: 7^th (+FL) | Feature: 1^st

Oscar set the ball rolling on Sunday for Australians’ domination at Monza by taking his first Feature Race victory in his maiden F2 campaign. He had a composed and mature drive from pole position, which he secured by just under five hundredths of a second in Friday’s session.

That pole did require some stellar defence against fellow Alpine junior Guanyu Zhou due to a late-race Safety Car to hold his position at the front.

His Saturday was also pretty decent, he may not have secured a podium, but the aim for the Championship in this new era of a questionable format is to be as consistent as possible. Especially in SR1.

Starting in 10^th, Piastri was still able to take 5^th on the road in spite of teammate Robert Schwartzman showing him the gravel on the exit of the Lesmos, it would be a dubious five-second penalty for the Russian going off track on the start line that promoted Piastri to 4^th.

In SR2, Oscar finished where he started in P7, but he did have a pretty special overtake on Théo Pourchaire into the Roggia chicane which cemented his position.

Piastri’s haul of 39 points extends his lead in the Drivers’ standings to 15 points with three rounds to go. He has been the most consistent driver this season, so it’s easy to see why he leads the way. It is just such a shame that his chances of getting an F1 seat is miniscule – because his performance as a rookie in F2 has been admirable.

Bent Viscaal – Qualifying: 18^th | Sprint 1: 7^th | Sprint 2: 2^nd | Feature: 15^th

This was Viscaal’s best weekend in Formula 2 thus far, despite an average qualifying that left the Dutchman starting both SR1 and Feature Race down in 18^th place.

A hectic SR1 saw Viscaal finish 11 places higher than where he started, which allowed him to take his second points finish of the season. The achievement of this result included a last lap pass on Hitech’s Jüri Vips, allowing Viscaal to start SR2 from fourth.

In SR2 he would make a great launch and take 3^rd off Vips into the Rettifilio chicane, he would hold that position until lap 19 when he forced Campos’ Beckmann into a mistake at the first corner, with Beckmann locking up and going through the escape road at turn 1. Bent would take P2 and that would be where he would finish, taking his first podium in F2 and Trident’s first visit to the rostrum since Luca Ghiotto’s victory in the Malaysia Sprint Race in 2016.

In the Feature Race Viscaal was running well once more, sitting in P8 on the penultimate lap when he was hit from behind by Beckmann into the Rettifilio chicane, breaking his rear suspension and bringing an end to what looked another promising race with the potential for a decent result.

Despite the crash, Viscaal took home a healthy 14 points from the weekend to move up to 15^th in the Championship, a respectable effort in his rookie season.

Christian Lundgaard – Qualifying: 19^th | Sprint 1: 3^rd (promoted from 4^th due to penalties) | Sprint 2: 14^th | Feature: 10^th (promoted from 11^th due to penalties)

It must be tough for Christian seeing teammate Pourchaire thrive at the front of the pack whilst a plethora of issues hits the Dane, for one reason or another it’s not gone his way this season, but he deserves a spot in this list simply for his SR1 performance alone.

A disappointing qualifying left him down in 19^th, but that didn’t stop Christian from slicing through the field in a hectic race to finish 4^th. This he managed after a number of overtakes on Championship contenders like fellow Alpine academy drivers Piastri and Zhou. He would inherit 3^rd due to a penalty for Robert Schwartzman, therefore taking home a third podium in this troubled campaign.

Sprint Race 2 ended before it began for Lundgaard, after making a decent start he was tagged into a spin at the Roggia chicane by DAMS driver Marcus Armstrong, his former teammate. He was only able to recover to 14^th.

In the Feature Race, Lundgaard was running as high as third on the alternate strategy, but a late Safety Car came out after he had done the mandatory pitstop. Bad luck, unlike Dan Ticktum, who benefitted from not pitting beforehand. Christian was down in 14^th when the race resumed and he was able to finish 11^th, but at least took home a solitary point after MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor was disqualified for a technical infringement.

The 11 points taken home from Monza sees Lundgaard creep up to 11^th in the Championship, which is something at least. An F1 promotion looks highly unlikely at this point though. Christian starred for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in an IndyCar race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course during the gap between Silverstone and Monza. Here he finished P12 after qualifying 4^th, so that looks like a promising career path for 2022.

Jehan Daruvala – Qualifying: 2^nd | Sprint 1: 9^th | Sprint 2: 1^st | Feature: 5^th

Another solid weekend for the Carlin driver, or perhaps better than just solid, as he took his first win of the season. He finished where he started in SR1 which isn’t anything to write home considering the progress of other drivers, but he took advantage of the reverse grid front row start, allowing Daravula to lead from lights to flag in SR2 to stand on the top step for the first time since the Bahrain Outer Sprint Race in 2020.

He failed to convert his Qualifying form into the Feature Race, but a 5^th place finish isn’t too shabby. the Indian driver moves up to P7 in the Drivers’ standings, albeit 68 points behind leader Piastri.

Jehan has arguably been one of the most consistent if not spectacular drivers this season, probably too far away from the Championship fight – but around his fellow Red Bull juniors Vips and Liam Lawson isn’t a bad place to be.

The struggle bus:

Guilherme Samaia – Qualifying: 23^rd | DNF in all three races

It was a particularly miserable weekend in Monza for Guilherme, qualifying on the back row is bad enough, but to be outqualified by nearly half a second by Fittipaldi, a teammate who was making his debut in the series, is quite embarrassing.

The Brazilian would suffer technical issues in Sprint Race 1 & 2 that saw him retire, but he didn’t make much progress in either of those races regardless. In the Feature Race, Guilherme span out on the kerbs on the exit of the Lesmos and hit the barrier with the rear of his Charouz car on the opening lap.

It was simply a race weekend to forget and at a time where teams are starting their plans for the 2022 season, this won’t look good on his CV, which means things aren’t looking promising for Samaia in F2.

Felipe Drugovich – Qualifying: 5^th | Sprint 1: DNF | Sprint 2: 17^th | Feature: 12^th

Felipe had a really scrappy weekend despite a promising P5 in qualifying. In SR1 he didn’t just made contact with both Hitech’s Liam Lawson and Campos’ Ralph Boschung in two separate incidents – which forced the pair to pit for new front wings, but he would then tangle with Carlin’s Dan Ticktum at the Rettifilio chicane, sustaining damage to his front wing that required a replacement.

Then to add salt to the wounds, the Brazilian crashed on the exit of Ascari a few laps later to bring an end to his own race. Starting at the back of the pack for SR2 he failed to make much progress and came home a lowly 17^th.

Sunday was a new day and he held P5 for much of the first stint, but he would firstly be hindered by his team double-stacking pitstops under the Safety Car, losing a few seconds whilst the team serviced teammate Zhou, but what certainly didn’t aid him was having to pit again a few laps later with radio confusion over potential front wing damage.

Angry words were exchanged between Drugovich and his engineer, but it ultimately cost Felipe the chance to score points on Sunday, meaning he came away from Monza with nil points. Which means that he is now the only driver in the top 10 that hasn’t won a race this season.

Thankfully we don’t have to wait long to see F2 back in action, as they’ll be joining F1 at Sochi in the last week of September. With a calendar reshuffle in sister series F3, they will also be joining the paddock in Russia for their final round, so expect a hectic weekend of track action.