As predicted, the Driver’s title was wrapped up, albeit in anti-climatic circumstances as Felipe Drugovich sealed glory in spite of a lap 1 retirement in Saturday’s Sprint Race. In fact, only a handful of drivers could walk away from Monza as happy bunnies as there were plenty of drivers who struggled for consistency around the Temple of Speed.
We also welcomed back Luca Ghiotto, the Italian driver last raced in the series in 2020, but replaced the banned Roy Nissany at DAMS for this last round. Find out how the home hero and the field faired in round 13 of the 2022 season.
Top of the class:
Jehan Daruvala – Qualifying: 6th | Sprint: 3rd | Feature: 1st
At last the Indian driver had a strong weekend after struggling for consistency for several rounds, and what a time it was to have such a stellar performance.
Just over two-tenths off pole, Daruvala would start both races in strong positions. Better yet, he translated this into a double podium finish. Saturday’s race was sealed with two overtakes in as many laps, picking off Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan and DAMS’s Ayumu Iwasa into turn 1 to take P3.
Sunday’s Sprint Race was sealed with strong team strategy, but a slice of luck after escaping damage following contact from Doohan at the Roggia chicane which took the Alpine Junior and Williams Junior Logan Sargeant out of the race on lap 1.
Jehan then pitted on lap 7 following a crash for Trident’s Calan Wiliams, two laps later the race was red flagged. Daruvala had jumped a number of cars during the pitstops so he moved up from P7 to P3 by the time the race restarted.
With P1 and P2 (Richard Verschoor & Marino Sato) both needing to pit after the red flag with being on the alternate strategy, Jehan breezed home to take his first win of 2022 at his team’s home race.
This haul of 31 points moves the Indian driver back up to P5 in the Driver’s standings, level with P4, that magic spot that guarantees a Super Licence and eligibility should an F1 team come knocking.
Frederik Vesti – Qualifying: 10th | Sprint: 2nd | Feature: 2nd (promoted from 3rd due to penalties)
The second driver to make it a double podium in Monza was ART’s Frederik Vesti. Starting from reverse grid pole on Saturday, the Dane made a strong start to the race, but lost out to Hitech’s Jüri Vips after the Safety Car restart on lap 4.
Despite this setback, Vesti held off Daruvala behind to celebrate his first visit to the rostrum since the Feature Race at Paul Ricard in round 9.
With the first lap carnage, Vesti found himself P6 once the race got under way after the red flag. This improved up to 3rd at the chequered flag with Verschoor and Sato pitting and Hitech’s Marcus Armstrong having to serve a penalty for failing to follow the race director’s instructions concerning the pit lane entry. This improved to P2 after Iwasa was disqualified with an issue with the plank on the undercarriage of his car.
Two P2s now leaves Vesti P8 in the Driver’s standings, just 9 points from P4. It’s certainly going to be an exciting end to the season to follow who will claim that coveted top 4 finish overall, and Vesti particularly helped out his team in their fight for the top spot against MP Motorsport.
The struggle bus:
Campos
Ralph Boschung – Qualifying: 13th | Sprint: DNF | Feature: DNF
Olli Caldwell – Qualifying: 20th | Sprint: DNF | Feature: DNF
If there was a team destined for the first flight out of Monza, it was Campos. Their drivers managed a combined 7 laps across both races in probably one of the worst team performances for a long time.
Ralph in particular will be under scrutiny, as he was the trigger for the first lap pile up just before the Curva Grande that took himself, ART’s Théo Pourchaire, the returning Luca Ghiotto and most ironically, teammate Caldwell out of contention. The Swiss driver received a 3-place grid penalty for the Sprint Race in Abu Dhabi as punishment, and he can count himself lucky it wasn’t more.
Admittedly, Saturday’s retirement was a steering issue caused by contact from MP Motorsport’s Clément Novalak, so that one was out of his control. Though it was certainly not the Swiss’ finest performance.
If there was a driver that deserved a hug after Monza, it’s Olli. He managed approximately 800 metres in both races, he was taken out at the first chicane by Charouz’s Tatiana Calderón on Saturday, before being an innocent party in his teammate’s error on Sunday.
Théo Pourchaire – Qualifying: 14th | Sprint: 17th (demoted from 13th due to penalty) | Feature: DNF
Another mediocre weekend for the Frenchman, who will most probably be wishing away this season, although he was the innocent party in the first lap carnage in the Feature Race that saw 6 cars eliminated in two separate incidents.
Unfortunately, the woes really started on Friday as another anonymous qualifying session saw Théo consigned to P14 on the grid, although title rival Drugovich would only be starting directly in front of him for the Sprint Race due to a penalty for setting his fastest lap under yellow flags.
Pourchaire had to finish 6th at a minimum to keep the fight going. Felipe retiring on lap 1 after being forced wide on the exit of Variante della Roggia was a tiny glimpse of luck on the horizon, but Théo could only muster a lowly 13th place finish, which turned to 17th as he was penalised for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
With the title over, Sunday was a day to race for pride and secure P2. The Frenchman’s race lasted two corners as he was span into the wall on the run to Curva Grande by Boschung, who rather abruptly re-entered the track having missed the chicane. So that most definitely wasn’t on Théo.
The consolation is that his nearest rivals behind him in the Championship standings also all had pretty shocking weekends, so the Alfa Romeo junior is in pole position to be Vice Champion and claim that coveted Super Licence.
The Stewards
Two bones of contention to pick with them, firstly is the questionable penalty given to Felipe Drugovich after qualifying. A 5-place grid penalty is steep but not unusual for setting a best lap under a single yellow flag. I’m baffled as to how the Brazilian was able to keep said time, as that meant he was permitted to start from P4 on Sunday.
It may just be me not being in harmony with the F2 rulebook, because it does differ from Formula One’s rules, but I just don’t see the logic in allowing a driver to keep their best time when it shouldn’t have stood.
The second questionable penalty was the one given to Vips for spinning Liam Lawson in the Feature Race. They admitted it was an error, but the fact it wasn’t immediately rectified in giving a 10-second stop-go for a relatively tame incident ruined the Estonian’s race and left the Stewards’ requiring a grovelling apology for the team.
F2 now has a two month wait to close off the season, as round 14 takes place in Abu Dhabi on the weekend of the 19th & 20th of November. With Drugovich Champion, all eyes really turn the Team’s title as MP Motorsport and ART enter the finale level on points.
With both teams on 281, can the Dutch team secure its first ever F2 title or will glory return to ART for the first time since 2015 back when the series was known as GP2? You’ll just have to tune in to find out.
