Jüri Vips has taken his first Formula 2 win, moving from third on the grid to take the chequered flag after multiple Safety Car periods.
Bent Viscaal, who finished tenth in this morning’s sprint race, started from pole position on the partially reversed grid. David Beckmann lined up alongside but Viscaal narrowly got away in the lead.Chaos broke out behind them as several drivers braked late for the first corner, sending clouds of tyre smoke into the air. Guanyu Zhou and Dan Ticktum collided, Zhou locking up and sending them both into the run-off.
“So fucking annoying,” Ticktum fumed, “it’s like ‘why me’ but it’s happened to other people today so it is what it is.” He was at least able to continue, albeit right at the back of the field.
Théo Pourchaire and Ralph Boschung also tangled on the exit of the corner. Pourchaire was able to continue but forcing drivers behind into evasive manoeuvres.
Before the Safety Car was deployed while cars were retrieved, Beckmann made a move for the lead around the outside of Viscaal at turn five. The race was then neutralised for two laps.
Pourchaire was forced to come into the pits to replace his front wing after the Safety Car restart, he and ART not having noticed the damage before returning to race pace. He assumed Ticktum’s previous place at the rear, on exiting the pit lane, while Ticktum himself immediately overtook Alessio Deledda and Marino Sato to move up to 16th, before doing the same to Samaia and Aitken down the long straight to take 14th, making up four places in a single lap.
Juri Vips was also able to pass Viscaal, to take second place and begin to hunt down Beckmann for the lead.
On lap six Richard Verschoor was pushed into the wall by Roy Nissany, spinning into the TecPro at turn three. This was the same location where two F1 cars crashed during qualifying earlier on, and the banners looked quite haggard from repeated impacts by the time Verschoor landed in them.
“He brake-tested me, he braked very, very early” said Nissany on the radio in protest.
No sooner had the race restarted, with cars on cold tyres, than Marcus Armstrong and Christian Lundgaard ended up in the barriers at turn one, both of them joining the ranks of attrition from a race that entered another hiatus, this time a Virtual Safety Car. Formula 2 drivers are not allowed to pit during VSC periods, meaning no driver could take advantage of trying to get fresher tyres for the remaining 11 laps.
The racing restarted on lap 10 and Beckmann was able to hold the lead from Vips for only less than half the main straight, when Vips nearly took the lead. The Red Bull junior was able to pull out a gap of more than a second over the subsequent three laps, leaving Beckmann to fight with third-placed Jehan Daruvala.
Vips held the lead to the end, with Beckmann and Daruvala completing the podium. The other points-scoring drivers were Viscaal, Robert Shwartzman, Ticktum, Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri.
Guanyu Zhou keeps the lead of the championship but Ticktum’s sixth-place finish puts him just one point behind second-place Pourchaire.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Formula 2 race two results
| Position | Car | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | Juri Vips |
| 2 | 14 | David Beckmann |
| 3 | 6 | Jehan Daruvala |
| 4 | 24 | Bent Viscaal |
| 5 | 1 | Robert Shwartzman |
| 6 | 5 | Dan Ticktum |
| 7 | 7 | Liam Lawson |
| 8 | 2 | Oscar Piastri |
| 9 | 10 | Theo Pourchaire |
| 10 | 4 | Felipe Drugovich |
| 11 | 20 | Matteo Nannini |
| 12 | 22 | Jack Aitken |
| 13 | 25 | Marino Sato |
| 14 | 15 | Guilherme Samaia |
| 15 | 23 | Alessio Deledda |
| 16 | 16 | Roy Nissany |
| 17 | 17 | Marcus Armstrong |
| 18 | 9 | Christian Lundgaard |
| 19 | 11 | Richard Verschoor |
| 20 | 21 | Ralph Boschung |
| 21 | 3 | Guanyu Zhou |
| 22 | 12 | Lirim Zendeli |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Formula 2
- Bearman wins as Vesti retirement leaves Pourchaire poised to clinch title
- Vesti out-runs Martins after two Safety Car periods for crucial sprint race win
- New, ‘more accessible’ F2 car for 2024 follows F1’s styling lead
- Novalak claims first F2 victory as championship leaders crash out at Zandvoort
- Formula 2 Zandvoort sprint race abandoned after pile-up and heavy rain
Jere (@jerejj)
5th June 2021, 16:27
Finally, a great result for Vips. Hopefully, this will give a much-needed confidence boost.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
5th June 2021, 16:32
The first half of that race was pure madness.
Chaitanya
5th June 2021, 16:33
Once again Jehan too slow out of Turn 1 to turn 16 and losing .5sec which he was making in slipstrea,
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
5th June 2021, 16:45
Dude I really wish you paid more attention to the other drivers in the series! It’s quite clear that Jehan is not making it to F1, so why criticise him every single race?
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
5th June 2021, 17:31
Mahaverr fan, perhaps? 🤭
Nitzo (@webtel)
5th June 2021, 17:55
@wsrgo
Right. Very important and deserving result for Juri. no doubt.
But Chaitanya, like me, is just another Indian motorsport fan (not too many in number) who finally wants someone to do well and not bow out after years of under-performance. Jehan is our only hope now :-D
RandomMallard (@)
5th June 2021, 16:36
@hazelsouthwell I don’t think this is quite correct:
I believe the rule in question here is Article 39.9b, which states:
This rule only applies to the mandatory pitstop in race 3 on Sunday morning I believe. Article 42.4 suggests that they are allowed to pit for tires during a VSC, but it wouldn’t count as their mandatory stop in the FR:
Hazel Southwell (@hazelsouthwell)
5th June 2021, 16:48
@RandomMallard my understanding is that that could only be used if there was damage to their tyres, eg: a puncture, not to improve pace.
RandomMallard (@)
5th June 2021, 17:50
Ah ok. The regulation is a bit vague, but the inclusion of accident damage as a separate wording to tyre changes suggested, at least to me, that they could still stop. It is maybe something that could be cleared up.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
5th June 2021, 16:57
@hazelsouthwell
Armstrong crashed by himself, Lundgaard’s retirement was in a collision with someone else (Drugovich or Lawson perhaps, can’t recall exactly).
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
5th June 2021, 17:50
Was questioning my memory when reading that part too. I clearly remember seeing him understeer straight into the barrier all on his own.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
5th June 2021, 17:59
Gotta give credit to Dan, what a comeback after being spun on lap one.
Guybrush Threepwood (@guybrushthreepwood)
5th June 2021, 23:29
Thought Piastri would have a bit more pace than he showed. It was pretty dull once everyone got in the DRS train.