F2 Austrian GP: Marcus Armstrong leads sprint from start to finish
9th July 2022Hitech’s Marcus Armstrong led the Formula 2 Austrian Sprint Race from lights to flag as many drivers around him came under scrutiny for track limit violations.
How the sprint race unfolded…
Before the race, Dams’ Roy Nissany was put under investigation by race control for driving unnecessarily slowly to the dummy grid.
Once the light went out, the reverse-grid pole sitter, Hitech’s Marcus Armstrong, had a superb start and led into the Red Bull Ring’s first corner unchallenged by ART’s Theo Pourchaire.
At the end of the first lap, the order remained unchanged with Armstrong out in front ahead of Pourchaire and Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan.
On lap four, Virtuosi Racing’s Marino Sato was seen in the pit lane, surrounded by his mechanics. The Japanese driver later retired from the session.
As Armstrong started the fifth lap, the Hitech driver had cleared a one-second gap between himself and Pourchaire, in second place. This meant Pourchaire was outside of the range needed to active their Drag Reduction System.
After only 10 laps, ART’s pole sitter – on Sunday – Frederik Vesti was issued with a black and white flag for exceeding track limits too many times. At the same time, Charouz’s Cem Bolukbasi found himself in the gravel trap – outside turn four – and was forced to return to the pit lane for repairs.
Shortly after the warning, Vesti – who was in ninth-place – was given a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits too many times.
After a dismal start to the sprint, as the Carlin of Liam lawson stalled on the pit lane and forced the New Zealander to start from the pit lane. On Lap 13, Lawson was seen stationary on the run-off area at turn three. This quickly forced race control to deploy the Virtual Safety Car.
As Lawson was able to get moving again and the VSC was quickly removed to place the session back under green flag conditions. However, the Carlin driver was able to return to the pit lane before he stopped just outside the pit lane zone.
On lap 16, Pourchaire, Prema’s Dennis Hauger and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Amuary Cordeel were issued with the black and white flag for track limits. One more violation and they would receive the same punishment, a five-second penalty, as Vesti.
In a cautious manner to not receive a five-second penalty, Pourchaire’s gap to Armstrong had extended up to two seconds as the session went into its final eight laps. On lap 21, Pourchaire was noted by the stewards for an on-track incident, which regarded track limits.
Campos’ drivers; Olli Caldwell and Roberto Mehri, and Cordeel soon joined Vesti on the list of named drivers with a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits. Caldwell was quickly warned by his pit wall that one more track limit violation and the British driver would get a one-race ban.
Due to the French ART driver being careful around the Austrian circuit, this allowed Doohan to close the gap to second place. The gap had gone under a second which meant the Australian Virtuosi driver was within DRS range to help him fight for P2.
The yellow flag was brought out on the final lap, of the sprint race, as Mehri was seen at the barriers in sector one.
Podium:
- Marcus Armstrong, Hitech
- Theo Pourchaire, ART (Subject to investigation for track limits)
- Jack Doohan, Virtuosi Racing
That’s it for the article: F2 Austrian GP: Marcus Armstrong leads sprint from start to finish! What did you think of the sprint race? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula Two here:
- F2 Austrian GP: Frederik Vesti claims pole in eventful qualifying
- 2022 British GP: Logan Sargeant secures pole in superb performance
- Hitech GP to give Juri Vips chance to ‘redeem himself’
- Red Bull Racing sack Juri Vips after racist comment
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
