Championship leader Felipe Drugovich took back-to-back pole positions at Formula 2’s Zandvoort round while title rival Théo Pourchaire crashed out of the session.
Drugovich set the pace early on in the session. However, a red flag was shown with 21 minutes to go, after Théo Pourchaire went into the barriers at turn three, losing control on the banking. He was able to get out of his car under his own power but with some substantial work needed on the Tecpro barriers before the session could resume.Under the red flag, Jack Doohan had set the fastest time, beating Drugovich by a tenth and a half, with Dennis Hauger third and Pourchaire fourth but unlikely to stay there, with so much of the session still to go.
When the session restarted, Doohan improved on his provisional pole time, with Ayumu Iwasa taking second place. However, most cars returned to the pits after their initial runs, with only Jehan Daruvala, Ralph Boschung and Drugovich continuing to lap on the developing track.
Most drivers started their second runs with just under ten minutes to go, Ayumu Iwasa taking the fastest time at first but then quickly bested by drivers who had waited longer for track evolution. Drugovich took provisional pole with a 1’20.773 lap, more than two and a half tenths faster than Doohan in second, before drivers began to start their final timed laps.
However, another red flag brought proceedings to a pause with just under four minutes to go, after Daruvala lost grip and spun, stopping out of turn seven. Moments earlier, Logan Sargeant had visited the gravel trap at turn 12 but managed to keep going.
When the session resumed, only a handful of cars took to the track, with Drugovich having already climbed out of his car with no plans for a final run. Of the drivers who went back out, Frederick Vesti looked most likely to improve until he met the gravel at turn 12, ruining what was otherwise a potential top ten worthy lap.
Clement Novalak qualified tenth, putting him on partially-reversed-grid pole, with Marcus Armstrong taking the other front row spot for Saturday’s sprint race. Drugovich’s pole extends his lead to 45 points over Pourchaire, who will start 16th in both races, following his crash.
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Formula 2 Zandvoort qualifying results
| Position | Car | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | Felipe Drugovich | MP |
| 2 | 3 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi |
| 3 | 6 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin |
| 4 | 20 | Richard Verschoor | Trident |
| 5 | 17 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS |
| 6 | 5 | Liam Lawson | Carlin |
| 7 | 1 | Dennis Hauger | Prema |
| 8 | 8 | Juri Vips | Hitech |
| 9 | 7 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech |
| 10 | 12 | Clement Novalak | MP |
| 11 | 9 | Frederik Vesti | ART |
| 12 | 25 | Amaury Cordeel | Van Amersfoort |
| 13 | 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz |
| 14 | 16 | Roy Nissany | DAMS |
| 15 | 4 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi |
| 16 | 10 | Theo Pourchaire | ART |
| 17 | 2 | Jehan Daruvala | Prema |
| 18 | 24 | David Beckmann | Van Amersfoort |
| 19 | 14 | Olli Caldwell | Campos |
| 20 | 21 | Calan Williams | Trident |
| 21 | 15 | Ralph Boschung | Campos |
| 22 | Tatiana Calderon | Charouz |
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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
Miane
2nd September 2022, 16:57
I wonder why anyone would consider DeVries over Drugovich. He’s doing the same being 2 years younger (DeVries was 24 when he won and Felipe is 22), he’s against an arguably stronger field and in a smaller team.
I really hope that Williams or Haas give him a chance, ok he’s in his third year, but he showed moments of brilliance since his rookie season, all that in MP, a team that never won anything above spanish F4.
MichaelN
2nd September 2022, 17:12
Perhaps someone who more closely follows F2 has a better idea as to why, but it seems surprising to me that Drugovich isn’t being mentioned anywhere for an F1 seat. Almost seems a case of teams collectively fallen for the sunk cost fallacy and arguing that ‘their’ juniors must be better simply because they’re theirs.
Dex
2nd September 2022, 17:35
I don’t think we’ll be seeing many drivers that aren’t British (or from English speaking countries), French or from countries from the same area coming to F1 in the near future (even Americans can’t find a single place for any of their drivers, and same is about to happen to Germans). Drugovich’ problem is mostly related to him being Brazilian, although I’m not convinced that he’s one of the 20 best available drivers (nor that F2 is very competitive this season, compared to previous years). It seems to me that in most countries there are no funds available, with no big companies/tycoons/dictators/whomever being willing to spend millions just to see someone from their country driving in F1. That used to happen before, and it’s probably the only way to join F1 if you’re not coming from most developed European countries; to either be sponsored by your country (directly or indirectly via business tycoons or state owned companies) or to ask your rich daddy to buy you a seat or even a whole team. It’s a miracle Drugovich was able to race in F2 actually, F1 is probably an impossible task for someone from his country and someone not coming from any F1 academy. Indy or FE are the best he can ever hope for, I’m afraid.
Diego Oliveira
2nd September 2022, 20:15
He’ s very calm person. Makes little mistakes…I’d take Drugovich over Herta any day.