Drugovich takes second F2 victory in processional sprint race

Formula 2

Posted on

| Written by

Felipe Drugovich, who lost a shot at victory in yesterday’s lively Formula 2 round, made amends in the sprint race with a comfortable run to his second win of the year.

MP Motorsport took their second win of the weekend as Drugovich followed up his team mate’s Saturday triumph, leading the field home by almost 10 seconds after 26 laps.

After very high track temperatures in the feature race had caused massive tyre degradation, cooler and more overcast conditions made the sprint race a more straightforward affair.

The grid was down one driver after Sean Gelael had suffered a spinal fracture during a last-lap collision that saw him go airborne over a kerb. Giuliano Alesi started from the pits after stalling on the formation lap.

Luca Ghiotto started from reverse-grid pole after struggling in the feature race. But he was unable to resist fellow front row occupant Drugovich, who was clearly in no mood to pass up a shot at victory after being frustrated by his pit strategy yesterday.

Mick Schumacher made another flying start from third on the grid but was unable to capitalise on the advantage and ended up dropping behind fourth-place starter Callum Ilott.

The running order, constrained by tyre management, quickly settled down. Drivers reported severe degradation and their front left tyres in particular were visibly grained by lap nine. Guanyu Zhou was forced into the pits by a front-left puncture. Nonetheless Drugovich was able to steadily extend his advantage over Ghiotto.

Dan Ticktum and Jack Aitken pitted on lap 19, after slipping down the order with major degradation. Ilott, who had looked strong at the start of the race, fell to ninth out of the points. But Drugovich, Ghiotto and Schumacher continued their progress to the chequered flag without pitting.

Ilott kept his championship lead, despite closest rival Christian Lundgaard lunging past him for eighth and the final point at the end of the race. Early title contender Robert Shwartzman suffered yet another point-less finish but maintains third in the standings.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Formula 2

    Browse all Formula 2 articles

    Author information

    Hazel Southwell
    Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    9 comments on “Drugovich takes second F2 victory in processional sprint race”

    1. That was a commanding drive from race winner, also tyre wear was attrocious for a lot of drivers.

      1. yep he looked really good

      2. Amazing that he delivers such a rookie season after an F3 season that was no more than average. Well done to him I have to say!

        1. Actually Drugovich is delivering for some time, he was great in Italian F4 and had an “another world” performance in euroformula open (winning 14 out of 16 races). Last year struggles was more due to Carlin car’s problems than his skills. If you consider that he’s driving a mid to back field car, he’s the real deal in F2 this year.

    2. Table with finishing positions at end of text would be nice 😊

    3. Turning out to be a better than expected driver. We’ll done to him. Reverse grid did help though, with being in clean air at the front, but other drivers have had the same opportunity and not got the job done.

      1. Actually, without the Safety Car, he would have been 2nd in the feature race or even the win was possible he was a bit faster than Ilott at that point. MP pitted Matsushita first (who did not have stopped yet) and Drugovich a lap later dropping him to 9th.

    4. I am close to calling it on Mick, sometimes he seems to be thereabouts on race pace, but not quite, in his second season he really should have been in race win contention every race considering the team he’s in, but even with good starting positions he’s more likely to end in a lower position right now. His start was good this race, but then into the first corner he lets it slip right away and he never recovers.

      Given the Ferrari Juniors are well represented in F2 right now and he’s being outperformed by several of them, I’d be amazed if he’d get a call up before some of them.

    5. MP Motorsport is the same team that put Mahaveer Raghunathan for a drive last year. At least this year they have got something right.

    Comments are closed.