Belgian GP: Lawson secures F2 win after early move
27th August 2022Carlin’s Liam Lawson commanded the race to secure another win as his teammate, Logan Sargeant, crashed out late on.
How the race unfolded…
Before the race even got underway, Prema’s Jehan Daruvala was forced to retire from the race before he even got to the grid. This left an open grid box which the drivers, behind Daruvala, would have to be careful not to fill, otherwise they may feel the wrath of the stewards.
It was a superb start from the reverse-grid pole sitter, Ralph Boschung, who raced towards Eau Rogue unchallenged while Carlin’s Liam Lawson took to the grass to try and slip up the inside into turn one – La Source. However, by the time the pack raced down the Kemmel Straight, Lawson managed to catch up to Boschung and tried to put the race leader under pressure into turn four.
Motivated from his FP1 stint, in an Alpha Tauri, Lawson remained in behind the Campos driver as the race went around for a second lap.
As the two drivers curled around La Source, the New Zealand driver remained under the gearbox of the Campos, in prime position, as they raced up Radillion. When they arrived at the braking zone of turn four, Boschung broke early, in a bid to defend the inside line, which allowed Lawson to slip up and snatch away the lead.
Although Lawson complained about the grip available to his, through his rear tyres, the Kiwi managed to pull out a one-second gap from Boschung by the end of lap six.
This allowed the Carlin driver some breathing space from behind him. With over a gap over a second, Boschung would remain outside of DRS range which would – ultimately – put him in a fight with the train of drivers behind him.
While the top two drivers, Lawson and Boschung, remained unchanged since the second lap, a battle for third continued behind. Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan sat in third, with a healthy 1.5 second gap over Trident’s Frederik Vesti (in fourth) and ART’s championship contender Theo Pourchaire, in fifth.
After a well behaved, and rather mundane, first half of the race, the safety car was deployed after Carlin’s Logan Sargeant crashed out on the exit of Pouhon (turn 12), on lap 11.
As the American driver tried to remain behind Van Amersfoort Racing’s David Beckmann, his rear tyres lost grip as he blasted around the fast left-hander. At high speed, the Carlin rotated around before it skipped across the gravel and slammed into the barrier.
Fortunately, Sargeant was seen out of the car and okay.
The safety car intervention brought out a flurry of action down the pit lane as a handful of drivers ventured into the pits, for an unscheduled stop, to help bolster their track positions in the dying laps of the race.
The drivers who pitted were:
- Felipe Drugovich, MP Motorsport
- Dennis Hauger, Prema
- Roy Nissany, Dams
- Calan Williams, Trident
- Frederik Vesti, ART
- Marino Sato, Virtuosi Racing
- Zendeli, Campos
- Amuary Cordeel, VAR
When the safety car peeled back into the pit lane, at the end of lap 14, Lawson tried his best to jump Boschung at the restart as he bolted down into the final chicane. The early move allowed the New Zealander to arrive at La Source, and down into Eau Rogue, unchallenged.
By the start of lap 16, Lawson had reinstated a healthy, two-second, gap to Boschung who remained in second place.
After Boschung lost tow from Lawson at the restart, the Campos driver was placed under immediate pressure by Doohan. This pressure was found to be too much on the final lap of the race as the Campos was forced to yield track position to Doohan.
The Virtuosi driver managed to slip past Boschung, to take second place, as the pair raced towards the braking zone at turn four.
Podium:
- Liam Lawson, Carlin
- Jack Doohan, Virtuosi Racing
- Ralph Boschung, Campos
That’s it for the article: Belgian GP: Lawson secures F2 win after early move! What did you think of the sprint race? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula Two here:
- F2 Hungarian GP: Pourchaire wins after Armstrong’s pit lane woes
- F2 Hungarian GP: Doohan dominates sprint after early blunder
- F2 French GP: Iwasa commands France feature race
- F2 French Sprint: Liam Lawson redeems poor start with race win
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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.
