Formula 2-Vesti Takes The Championship Lead After Feature Race Victory In Monaco

Formula 2 Sprint Race:
The Formula 2 Weekend got underway with the sprint race in Monaco, 1 month after the Azerbaijan weekend. It was a clean getaway for every driver until we got up to the chicane after the tunnel. Stanek and Maini got spun around  with 4 drivers getting caught upon the incident. This brought out a VSC which lead into a full safety car. Whitch came in on lap 6 but Hadjar got an issue at the restart and had to retire. Iwasa managed to inherit the lead which brought every driver up by 1 place from the retsrta apart from Nissany and Boshung who had to retire. Leclerc and Maini were battling for P16 but due to the insignificant advantage of DRS. Fittipaldi managed to get cordeel on lap 22. After that. Cordeel crashed before the hairpin and brought out another safety car. Correa and Cordeel collided. The safety car came in lap 24 and Iwasa decided to go early. Bearman had to pit at the restart. Iwasa managed to pull a gap of over 6 seconds to lead the pack to the win and take home a win at Monaco. Daruvala finished P2 and Crawford P3.

Formula 2 Feature Race:

The Feature Race in Monaco kicked off with a clean start for most of the drivers. Dennis Hauger managed to cut turn 1 and ended up getting a 5 second time penalty. Cordeel started to fall back the field as the racers entered lap 2. Cordeel then picked up damage and retired but Hauger was then noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. With Formula 2, there is a rule which states that the drivers cannot complete their mandatory pitstop until the end of lap 6. So Benevides and Boschung decided to pit at the end of lap 8 which was a surprise. Arthur Leclerc got struck by a curse thats his brother also has as he DNFed from the race on lap 9. Further on in the race Nissany, Daruvala, Correa, Crawford, Fittipaldi, Iwasa, Hadjar, Bearman and Benevides all pitted. Nissany and Novalak battled through the tunnel section with a VSC having to be deployed due to Enzo Fittipaldi having an engine issue. Dennis Hauger received a 5 second time penalty on lap 20 for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Jack Doohan ended up crashing on lap 22. The car caught on fire but he was all safe. However, the track was slippery and a red flag was called in order to repair the barrier. Vesti, Pourchaire and Martins all pitted before the red flag was called. We went racing again on lap 27 which was a steady start. It then emerged that Victor Martins did not slow down for the collision and ended up receiving a drive through penalty. Vesti managed to convert his pole to victory around the streets of Monaco. Theo Pourchaire finished P2 and Zane Maloney finished the podium positions.

Featured Image Credit to Prema Racing Photos and Videos.

Formula 2 Jeddah Sprint Race and Feature Race Recap

The 2 races in Formula 2 saw drama, conteroversy, safety cars and good, hard, fair racing across many of the young drivers hoping to make a step up to F1.

Sprint Race
Lap 1-Crawford lead from Iwasa and Boschung. Doohan goes off the track as Bearman gets up a place. Iwasa took the lead on lap 2 into turn 1. Zane Maloney lost the rear after coming out of turn 2 and that brought out the safety car. Boshchung and Crawford fought after the restart. Theo Pourchaire went for a lunge which paid off as he made up a place.
Theo Pourchaire made the same lunge on lap 7 but he misjudged it and collided with the Prema rookie of Ollie Bearman and that brought both of their races to an end. Pourchaire was given a 5 place grid drop for that collision. Iwasa lead them into turn 10 and Martins made up a place as the sprint race ended up at 50% distance. Lap 11 saw 3 wide into turn 1 between Doohan, Maini and Crawford. Daruvala went for a lunge into turn 1 against boschung in on lap 13 and went up into the podium places.

Martins got a big tow into turn 1 and went for a lunge and made it stick against Boschung. Daruvala went for the lead of the race on lap 17 but as he went for it into turn 2, Martins took 2nd place from Daruvala. Iwasa took the Sprint Race Victory with Martins finishing P2 and Daruvala P3.

Frederik Vesti 2023 images curtsey of premaracing.com

Feature Race
The Feature Race in F2 at the Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit saw Bearman overtake Martins from lights out and into turn 1. Martins was P2 and Doohan P3. Haugher battled with Leclerc as lap 1 went on. Benevides brought out the virtual safety car after Amaury Cordeel collided with him. It was a 7 car battle going into turn 1 on lap 6 of the race There was no collisions. Bearman and Martins came into the pits at the same time but all maintained positions. Bearman and Martins battled into turn 1 on lap 10 for the race lead after all pit stops occurred. Martins tried again on lap 11 after Martins got DRS but Vesti managed to catch up with his teammate and get him. Bearman had a spin on lap 16 which saw him drop down to 11th place. Vesti and Martins battled into turn 1 on lap 17 and Martins spun on lap 17 which brought out the virtual safety car even though he kept the car running but then engine eventually cut out. Hadjar was battling Bearman for the P9. Vesti managed to win the Feature Race with Doohan in P2 and Daruvala in P3.

Featured Image courtesy of Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool

©2014-2024 ThePitCrewOnline