Italian GP F2 Sprint: Drugovich secures title from the pit lane
10th September 2022After early contact in the sprint race which caused MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich to retire, the Brazilian secured the FIA Formula 2 World Championship from inside the pit lane!
How the race unfolded…
ART’s Frederik Vesti got a great getaway, after the lights went out very quickly, and managed to maintain the lead into the first corner, while Carlin’s Logan Sargeant got a poor getaway and fell down the order before stopping in P5.
Whereas Charouz’s Tatiana Calderon and Campos’ Olli Caldwell made contact in the opening chicane and retired from the race, which soon triggered the safety car.
However, the championship leader MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich collided with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Amuary Cordeel into the Del Roggia chicane (turns four and five). The contact caused Drugovich’s wishbone, on his suspension, to snap and break. The Championship leader was able to drag his car back to the pit lane before the Mechanics declared the damage as terminal.
At the end of the third lap, as the safety car peeled back into the pit lane, Vesti bolted away as the pack entered the Parabolica. This decision allowed Hitech’s Juri Vips to get a good slipstream and make a challenge for the lead into the opening chicane. The move was successful and Vips found himself up into the lead, on lap four.
On lap seven, MP Motorsport’s race went from bad to worse as Clement Novalak made contact with Campos’ Ralph Boschung into the Della Roggia Chicane. As a result, the MP driver suffered front wing damage and a puncture. When the Brazilian returned to the pit lane, MP retired his car too.
At the same time, Boschung soon returned to the pit lane – after his contact with Novalak – and retired his car after he claimed his steering column was bent.
The championship looked to slip away from ART’s Theo Pourchaire, on lap 14, after the Frenchman dipped his right tyres into the gravel trap on the exit of turn two. As a result, Pourchaire fell from P11 down to P17 and seemed to hand the title to Drugovich, who watched the action unfold from the pit lane.
Despite Pourchaire’s best attempts, the Frenchman couldn’t find a way back into the points after his earlier excursion into the gravel. As a result: Drugovich secured the 2022 world championship from inside the pit lane.
Podium:
- Juri Vips, Hitech
- Frederik Vesit, ART
- Jehan Daruvala, Prema
That’s it for the article: Italian GP F2 Sprint: Drugovich secures title from the pit lane! What was your favourite moment from Felipe Drugovich’s championship-winning season? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula Two here:
- F2 Dutch Feature: Drugovich wins after safety car restart carnage
- Belgium GP: Doohan tyre strategy secures first feature race win
- Belgian GP: Lawson secures F2 win after early move
- F2 Hungarian GP: Pourchaire wins after Armstrong’s pit lane woes
- F2 Hungarian GP: Doohan dominates sprint after early blunder
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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.
