F2 French Sprint: Liam Lawson redeems poor start with race win
23rd July 2022Carlin’s Liam Lawson had a poor start when the lights went out but the New Zealander managed to fight back and steal the race win away from Prema’s Jehan Daruvala.
How the race unfolded…
Before the race even started there were three drivers who stalled on the formation lap; Clement Novalak (MP Motorsport), Richard Verschoor (Trident) and Enzo Fittipaldi (Charouz). Because the drivers weren’t able to get going, all three drivers were forced to start the race from the pit lane.
When the race got underway, after the formation lap, Prema’s Jehan Daruvala got a great start and managed to maintain the lead into turn one while Liam Lawson had a poor start once the lights went out. This allowed Hitech’s Marcus Armstrong to move up into second-place.
By the end of the first lap, the pack were relatively well behaved as Daruvala completed the first racing lap with no issues from the drivers behind him.
As the race entered its third lap, Daruvala tried to break the tow in a bid to prevent Armstrong from being able to activate his Drag Reduction System, but the New Zealander remained within the one-second range.
However, as the field went onto the fourth lap, Armstrong was pressured by his fellow countryman, Lawson. The two battle went on from turn one all the way up to the chicane, in the middle of the straight. When the two arrived at the chicane, Armstrong defended his inside line which forced Lawson to try and overtake around the outside.
Credit: Mercedes-AMG F1
The two drivers remained glued together, in a fair wheel-to-wheel battle, but on the exit Lawson had better traction and managed to finalise his overtake on Armstrong, to take second place.
As a result of the battle, this allowed Daruvala to clear out a two-second gap over Lawson.
When the race entered its second third, on lap eight of 21, Lawson cut down Daruvala’s lead down to a second. By the time the front runners made it to the first DRS zone, down the back straight, Lawson was able to activate DRS to creep even closer to the race leader.
A yellow flag was waved, at the turn eight chicane, as Charouz’s Enzo Fittipaldi was spun around. The Brazilian driver made an attempt to move up the inside of Roberto Mehri, on lap nine, but Fittipaldi’s car became unsettled as he hit the inside kerb and the Brazilian spun around.
When Fittipaldi came to a stop, he couldn’t get going again and soon retired from the race. However, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Amuary Cordeel couldn’t avoid the stranded Charouz and the two drivers made contact. As a result, Cordeel also retired from the race.
At the end of lap 12, the safety car returned to the pit lane to get the race back under green flag conditions. As the pack exited turn 11, Daruvala bolted back up to racing speed – in a similar manner to W Series’ Jamie Chadwick, earlier on.
On lap 16, Lawson finally found a way past Daruvala as the two arrived at the turn eight chicane. Daruvala broke early, as he tried to defend the inside line, in a bid to retaliate, around the corner, but this opened the door for Lawson to snatch away the race lead.
Daruvala soon came under pressure from third-placed Armstrong, into turn eight, but the two made contact . Daruvala was forced to use the run-off area, and cut the corner, while Armstrong was able to continue on his way around the corner. However, Armstrong was soon in a battle with the likes of ART’s Theo Pourchaire.
As Armstrong and Pourchaire arrived into turn 11, the Hitech driver was forced to use the run-off area and quickly reported that he was forced off the track by Pourchaire.
While battles raged on behind him, Lawson managed to cruise his way to the chequered flag to secure the race win.
Podium:
- Liam Lawson, Carlin
- Jehan Daruvala, Prema
- Theo Pourchaire, ART
That’s it for the article: F2 French Sprint: Liam Lawson redeems poor start with race win! What did you think of the sprint race? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula Two here:
- F2 Austria: Richard Verschoor wins with gamble in feature race
- F2 Austrian GP: Marcus Armstrong leads sprint from start to finish
- F2 Austrian GP: Frederik Vesti claims pole in eventful qualifying
- 2022 British GP: Logan Sargeant secures pole in superb performance
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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.
