F2 Feature Race: Oscar Piastri wins in Abu Dhabi Finale
12th December 2021F2 Feature Race: Oscar Piastri wins in Abu Dhabi Finale
Prema’s Oscar Piastri ended his 2021 Formula Two championship run with a feature race victory in the Abu Dhabi Finale.
How the race unfolded
Piastri had a good reaction as the lights went out and managed to lead the pack around the first corner. Further back, it looked to be a tamed race down into the second sector. However, into turn six MP Motorsports’ Jack Doohan made a move on the inside line of Uni-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou.
The race between Doohan and Zhou was brought to an end as the two ran wide on the exit of turn nine. Both drivers returned to the track but Doohan lost grip and rotated across the track. The MP driver then ended up in the barrier and the Aston Martin safety car was brought out as a result.
The opening lap safety car finally returned to the pit lane at the end of the fourth lap. On the exit of turn 14, Piastri bolted to get the race back under green-flag conditions and remained unchallenged.
Hitech’s Juri Vips was issued with a five-second time penalty on lap six, which would be served under his mandatory pit stop, for causing a collision with ART’s Christian Lundgaard on lap one. at the end of the sixth lap, Hitech’s Liam Lawson and Lundgaard ventured into the pit lane to swap their purple-stripped super soft tyres for the yellow-stripped medium compound tyres.
The top two drivers, Piastri and Zhou, paid their mandatory visit to the pit lane at the end of lap nine. The two returned to Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit in P11 and P12.
It remained very mundane from the first round of pit stops from the super soft runners. ART’s Theo Pourchaire remained out in front on lap 25, as he inherited the lead of the race when Piastri ventured into the pit lane, with Uni-Virtuosi’s Felipe Drugovich and Dams’ Marcus Armstrong in P2 and P3, respectively.
Pourchaire, Drugovich and Carlin’s Jehan Daravula were still yet to pit for their mandatory stop on lap 27, as Piastri worked his way back up the grid into P4. Pourchaire finally pitted at the end of lap 27 and swapped his worn mediums for the super soft compound. He returned to the track P6, behind Prema’s Robert Shwartzman – who was in fifth.
Drugovich pitted from the lead a lap later and returned ahead of Pourchaire. However, as the Frenchman had a lap to warm up his super softs and managed to overtake Drugovich into the sixth corner.
Lawson retired from the race on lap 30 as he pulled to the side of the track, in the same position Doohan crashed. The Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was briefly deployed on lap 31 while the Marshal’s went on track to quickly clear the stranded Hitech.
Daruvala was slapped with a five-second penalty on the final lap for speeding in the pit lane, which would be added onto his time at the end of the race.
Podium:
- Oscar Piastri, Prema
- Guanyu Zhou, Uni-Virtuosi
- Felipe Drugovich, Uni-Virtuosi
That’s it for the article: F2 Feature Race: Oscar Piastri wins in Abu Dhabi Finale! What have you thought about Piastri’s performance this season? Let us know in the comments!
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