In terms of wheel-to-wheel racing, there wasn’t much to report on this weekend. However, Sunday’s Feature Race was packed with some safety car and strategy chaos that made it a memorable first visit to Zandvoort for F2.
The Championship leader walked away with one hand on the trophy, but he wasn’t the only one to grace the dunes of Zandvoort with his presence. Read to find out how the rest of the pack fared in round 12 of the 2022 season:
Top of the class:
Felipe Drugovich – Qualifying: 1st | Sprint: 10th (+FL) | Feature: 1st (+FL)
The Brazilian was, once again, simply untouchable this weekend. To take such a dominant weekend for MP Motorsport at their home round must be a huge boost for the Champion-elect.
With such a short track it was unbelievable to see that Felipe was over two-tenths quicker than his nearest rival – Alpine junior Jack Doohan. Saturday’s Sprint Race was a non-event with very little action, where ultimately Drugovich finished where he started in the reverse-grid race in P10, but he did manage to lay claim on an extra point thanks to the Fastest Lap.
Sunday was, despite the chaos, a breeze for Felipe. He survived early pressure from Doohan to lead. He held this comfortable lead of three seconds before the second Safety Car of the race came out after a loose wheel caused Virtuosi’s Marino Sato to crash at turn 2.
Running in P7 after having made his earlier pitstop, Felipe knew the front six all had to make their mandatory stop. With the pit lane closed under Safety Car (in a rule change just for Zandvoort), all he had to do was keep it on the track.
The Safety Car peeled in on lap 22 and in a flash, Drugovich’s task became a bit easier. His nearest rival Doohan was taken out from directly behind him as the race returned to green with race leader, Liam Lawson, electing to go much later than predicted.
The Kiwi waited until after the banked T14, which he was perfectly entitled to do under the restart procedure, to bolt. This meant some of the midfield pack were caught out as some drivers jumped the gun, think F1’s restart at Mugello in 2020 but less speed.
With Jack in the wall after having been tagged by net-P3 runner Richard Verschoor, Drugovich had a clear run to victory once the race resumed on lap 26. As the front of the pack all had to stop under green flag conditions.
Felipe’s second consecutive Feature Race victory leaves him 69 points clear of his title rival, the Fastest Lap point serving as a lovely bonus. With Théo Pourchaire faltering, the Brazilian all-but-certainly has secured the 2022 Driver’s Title. He could claim it as early as the Sprint Race at the next round in Monza.
Dennis Hauger – Qualifying: 7th | Sprint: 3rd | Feature: 4th
It’s not been the rookie season that the Red Bull Junior hoped for. He most likely had high expectations, especially as he filled the seat of 2021 Champion, Oscar Piastri. However, Dennis did have a pretty decent weekend which will give him a well-needed vote of confidence.
Qualifying P7, six-tenths down on Drugovich, Hauger would start P4 for Saturday’s Sprint Race. An aggressive start saw him pass Hitech’s Jüri Vips for P3 in one of a handful of overtakes. Taking a first podium since round 6 in Baku.
Come Sunday, Dennis made a lightning start to be running P3 on the first lap. A position he lost in the pitstop phase after having elected to go early. He found himself relegated to the midfield, behind fellow Red Bull Junior Ayumu Iwasa.
In spite of the chaos, Hauger kept it on the road – but he didn’t quite have enough to get past Iwasa, settling for P4 come the Chequered flag.
A nice haul of 18 points from the weekend sees Hauger remain 12th in the Driver’s standings, but close to just 10 points behind teammate Jehan Daruvala. With just 2 rounds to go, he now has an achievable aim of not only beating his teammate, but a top-10 finish overall.
The struggle bus:
Théo Pourchaire – Qualifying: 16th | Sprint: 20th | Feature: 9th (promoted from 10th due to penalties)
Not one to beat a man whilst he’s down, but what a stinker of a weekend to have for the Frenchman. After the mechanical DNF in Spa, Pourchaire needed to bounce back immediately to reignite his faint hopes of a shot at the title, this fleeting hope came crashing down when he found the barriers at Hugenholtz in qualifying.
A lowly P16 meant points were a reach for Théo, and he would have a Sprint Race to forget as he made a little trip through the gravel at Tarzan on lap 2, relegating him to the back. Meaning he would finish last of the classified runners in P20.
On Sunday, the ART driver found points despite the Safety Car timings running against him. He was up to P3, but being unable to make the mandatory pitstop during the Safety Cars, he had to pit after the interruptions under green flag conditions.
Théo did hunt down a 13-second gap in 7 laps and got past former-race leader Liam Lawson (Carlin) and Trident’s Calan Williams to cross the line 10th. He was promoted to 9th following a post-race penalty to Van Amersfoort’s David Beckmann.
It will come as little consolation though, as he took home just two points compared to Drugovich’s 29. This means he’s almost definitely going to have to settle for the runner-up spot in the Championship. It is mathematically possible, but being 69 points behind with only 78 on the table, even the most optimistic driver will be clutching at straws to fight the inevitable.
Roy Nissany – Qualifying: 14th | Sprint: 15th | Feature: 17th (demoted from 15th due to penalty)
The Israeli driver had very little camera time, mainly because he wasn’t anywhere near the front of the pack. With action at a premium, the spotlight came over Roy following a collision with David Beckmann under the Safety Car following Logan Sargeant’s crash on lap 1, before the red flag came out on lap 3.
Beckmann collected the back of Virtuosi’s Marino Sato and hit the side of Roy on the pit straight. Thankfully all were able to continue due to the pack’s speed being reduced, but Beckmann required a new front wing.
After the end of the Feature Race, the Stewards awarded both Beckmann and Nissany 10-second penalties for driving erratically under the Safety Car, the two penalty points associated with the punishment takes Nissany’s total to 13 for the 2022 season.
As such, the Williams reserve will be sitting out of Monza after becoming the third driver this season after Amaury Cordeel (Van Amersfoort) and Olli Caldwell (Campos) to collect enough penalty points to be forced to sit one out. Considering the number of incidents the veteran has been involved in, it’s a bit of a surprise he made it to round 12.
Logan Sargeant – Qualifying: 3rd | Sprint: 8th | Feature: DNF
Whilst the rest of his weekend was alright-ish, the American’s Sunday was most definitely one to forget. A T1 trip through the gravel on lap 1 left him down in 21st after having started 3rd. Whilst battling with Campos’ Ralph Boschung, Logan clipped the rear and crashed into the barriers at Turn 7 with the front wing and right suspension taking the brunt of the hit.
Not only did his race end by him being lodged in the techpro, but the damage was enough to cause a rare red flag when it became apparent Marshalls would need to do some reconstruction.
With Pourchaire in 2nd place having a nightmare weekend, this could have been an opportunity to apply pressure. But he couldn’t live up to that expectation, as Logan only took away a single point with the 8th place finish on Saturday. The only solace was that outside of Drugovich, the rest of the Drivers in the Top 5 also had weekends to forget for varying reasons.
Jehan Daruvala – Qualifying: 17th | Sprint: 16th | Feature: 10th (promoted to 11th due to penalties)
The driver with arguable the worst weekend on track was Prema’s Jehan Daruvala. Not 1, not 2 but 4 spins across qualifying and both two races. It really was a disastrous visit to Zandvoort for the Red Bull Junior, so he will most likely be delighted to leave the sunny dunes behind.
He spun at turn 8 in Friday’s session, which brought out not only the red flag but also a premature end to qualifying. Jehan followed that up with two on Saturday – once at turn 1 and again at turn 8.
That same corner was his nemesis on Sunday, as he found himself facing the wrong way on lap 3 on Sunday. Nonetheless, a well-timed entry to the pitlane when cars were crashing behind him meant he was able to pit before the pit lane was closed following the melee under the first-Safety car restart.
15 laps was a long stint for the softs, and he was in the points until the final lap when Pourchaire came through, but after a penalty for Beckmann he still took P10. Overall, just 1 point in his last three rounds sees Daruvala slip to P9 in the standings, things are not looking great for getting rehired for a fourth season in F2 on this form.
The last event of the triple header sees the paddock head to Monza, Italy for the penultimate round of the 2022 season. With the Driver’s title expected to be wrapped up, all eyes will turn to the Team’s title as MP Motorsport leads ART by 15 points.
Can Drugovich take the crown and further aid his team in their search for a first title in the series? Tune in on the weekend of the 10th & 11th of September to find out.
