Round 6 of the 2021 Formula 2 season took place at a rather soggy Sochi Autodrom, the weather playing havoc with the timetable over the weekend. Only one Sprint Race took place on the Saturday due to the conditions, whilst the Feature Race took place on Sunday as normal.
I suppose it makes my life a bit easier as there was less racing to watch in order to make this list, silver linings and all that, so here is a condensed report card from the weekend’s action:
Top of the class:
Oscar Piastri – Qualifying: 1st | Sprint 1: 9th | Feature: 1st
Don’t want to be the one to curse things – but it’s looking rosy for Piastri to win the Formula 2 title in his debut season, taking a third pole position and a second consecutive Feature Race victory. This now sees him extend his Championship lead by a further 20 points over UNI-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou.
The Prema driver was nearly two tenths quicker than his nearest rival, Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala, in Qualifying. But Oscar then had a rather tame run to finish 9th in the reverse grid Sprint Race, which was the same position from which he started, as rival Zhou span out from P7 before the race even began.
Nothing ventured nothing gained on Saturday, but it’s the Feature race on Sunday where the Australian got a real chance to shine. Oscar dominated the race, leading from pole. But at one point he did have to get past ART’s Théo Pourchaire (who overcut him during the pitstops) and a further three drivers who were on the alternate strategy.
He got past the trio of Liam Lawson (Hitech), Marino Sato (Trident) and Guilherme Samaia (Charouz) with ease to win by nearly 2 seconds over Pourchaire.
It seems astounding that Piastri is unlikely to make the jump to F1 next season, but no matter where he’ll end up in 2022, you can’t take this away from him. Oscar truly has been at the top of the class of the F2 field in 2021.
Dan Ticktum – Qualifying: 10th | Sprint 1: 1st | Feature: 5th
Another decent weekend for Dan saw him finally able to celebrate a win on the road after inheriting his SR2 victory in Monaco back in May. He may have been on pole and benefitted from the rolling start, but he led from lights to flag in very difficult conditions. Especially as he was the first driver to encounter the track on his way to victory.
This is only emphasised by the fact that F2 doesn’t have Intermediate tyres, driving with slick tyres on a damp track couldn’t have been much fun, but he kept it out of the walls to claim 15 points.
He made a decent start on Sunday, moving up to 9th by the end of lap 1, after which he claimed a further four positions to finish 5th. This included a neat movearound the outside of Zhou at turn 15 on lap 9.
Taking 25 points from Sochi means that Dan continues to sit 4th in the Championship. It may be too late to mount a Championship charge, but he’s had a strong season no matter his reputation.
Théo Pourchaire – Qualifying: 3rd | Sprint 1: 5th (+FL) | Feature: 2nd
He may not have won a race this weekend but Théo had a very strong weekend in Sochi, qualifying a solid P3 and finishing higher than where he started in both races.
Pourchaire was over four tenths off Piastri, but his time was still good enough for a cushty slot on row 2 for the Feature Race. From there, he immediately boulted past Daruvala to take P2 and this is where he would finish the race.
He did briefly take the lead by overcutting Piastri but the Australian breezed as the Frenchman was on cold tyres. Pourchaire was less than 2 seconds behind by the chequered flag, not challenging directly for the victory but leaving Oscar no margin for error.
In Saturday’s Sprint Race, Théo made up two places in the race having moved up to 7th following Zhou’s spin, and bagged an extra two points for fastest lap, therefore he took home 26 points from Sochi to further cement his 5th place in the standings.
It’s still baffling to realise this Alfa Romeo junior has only just turned 18, Théo will for sure be a title favourite for 2022 if he remains in the category.
Jake Hughes – Qualifying: 6th | Sprint 1: 4th | Feature: 18th
I pretend I did not see his spin during the Feature Race, because up until then, Jake was having a brilliant weekend standing in at HWA once again.
He qualified well in P6, which is HWA’s best qualifying since they joined last year. Jake followed that up with an assured drive to 4th in the Sprint Race, which is both his and the team’s best-ever finish in F2. This is especially commendable when you take into consideration that it was the first time he’d driven in the wet in an F2 car.
His Feature Race started off well, only dropping down to 8th, but a slow early pitstop and the spin then dropped him out of points contention.
Nonetheless, the 8 points gained in the sprint moves Jake up to 18th in the standings and gives the team some much-needed points. It wouldn’t surprise me if he sees out the season with HWA and it’s the least he deserves.
The struggle bus:
Felipe Drugovich – Qualifying: 13th | Sprint 1: DNS | Feature: DNS
I feel like I won’t be on his Christmas card list for putting him on the struggle bus, but this was a disastrous weekend for Felipe. A mediocre qualifying left him starting 13th on the grid for the delayed Sprint Race, which took place after F1 qualifying.
Unfortunately, Drugovich aquaplaned into the barrier on the back straight during the formation lap and caused significant damage to the front of his UNI-Virtuosi car. He retired before the race even began, and was then taken to hospital as a precaution due to the impact.
The Brazilian was declared unfit to race by the Medical Officer despite getting the all clear from the hospital. With teams planning line-ups for 2022, especially with Formula 3 having their season finale at Sochi, this was a particularly suboptimal time to have a weekend as bad as what Drugovich had. Which is why he finds himself in the driver’s seat of our F2 struggle bus.
Guanyu Zhou – Qualifying: 4th | Sprint 1: DNS | Feature: 6th
The other side of the UNI-Virtuosi garage didn’t have a much better weekend. In fact, one could argue this was far more costly as Guanyu is in the title fight.
A decent qualifying left the Chinese driver starting 7th for the reverse-grid Sprint Race. Except for the fact that he spun at the entry of turn 2 on the reconnaissance lap and stalled the car, meaning that neither UNI-Virtuosi car managed to start the Sprint Race.
It was a huge let-off that Piastri would only finish 9th and failed to score, but then Zhou would slip backwards to 6th in the Feature Race whilst his fellow Alpine junior went on to win the race. Guanyu is now 36 points behind in the Championship, and with two rounds to go, it is looking more and more ominous… Even if he is favourite to land the Alfa Romeo F1 seat for 2022.
This jarring gap to round 7 in Saudi Arabia in December will be the last time we have to put up with such gaps, as F2 and F3 will thankfully be returning to its old format from next season, although the Sprint Race will take place on the Saturday and the Feature Race on the Sunday.
It’s the penultimate round of the Championship and still everything to play for, stay tuned to see if anyone can catch Piastri on the weekend of the 3rd-5th December.
