Monaco GP: Vesti secures F2 feature race win as Doohan brings out red flag

Prema’s Frederik Vesti controlled the Monaco Grand Prix feature race with a lights-to-flag performance as Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan crashed out and brought out the red flag.

How the race unfolded…

It was a perfect launch from the pole-sitter, Frederik Vesti who managed to lead the race into the opening corner. However, one place back, ART’s Victor Martins cut across the circuit to block off his teammate, Theo Pourchaire, to protect his second-place position.

As Pourchaire was shown the pit wall the Frenchman had to yield and filter back into the group, ahead of Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan.

After the opening phase, the top five remained unchanged with Vesti in control out in front ahead of Martins, Pourchaire, Doohan and Carlin’s Zane Maloney.

Trident’s Clement Novalak and Campos’ Ralph Boschung were the first drivers to peel into the pit lane – at the end of lap seven – as the two drivers swapped over their worn, purple, supersoft tyres for the red soft compound.

At the end of lap nine, the ‘Monaco-curse’ continued for Arthur Leclerc who saw his home race end early with a suspected brake issue. Leclerc raced into the Nouvelle Chicane but couldn’t slow down but he was able to slowly glide the Dams car back to his garage.

Credit: Formula Motorsport Limited

On lap 19, Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi became the next retirement from the race as his car began to smoke inside the tunnel section. As he approached the braking zone of the Nouvelle Chicane, the Carlin began to bellow out smoke. Fortunately, Fittipaldi was able to slide his car down the escape road and retire from the race.

Although Fittipaldi used the escape road, race control brought out the Virtual Safety Car. The VSC ended on lap 21.

However, the race was neutralised once again as Doohan wrecked his Virtuosi car into the barrier, near Massenet. Replays showed the Australian had rotated around at the top of the hill of Beau Rivage, rear-ended the barrier and bounced to a stop across the track.

Fortunately, Doohan was okay as he climbed and vaulted over the barrier before his car burst into flames – quickly put out by Monaco’s fire marshals.

As the safety car was deployed, the front runners peeled into the pit lane to complete their mandatory stop. Vesti had a swift stop, as did Martin behind. However, as ART double-stacked with Martins in first, the front jack didn’t get under Pourchaire’s car properly which saw the Frenchman’s ART drop to the ground.

Luckily the team where able to lift the car back up and complete Pourchaire’s mandatory stop.

The session was soon red-flagged after Doohan’s crash, to clear away debris, clean up fluid on the track and check the armco barrier.

The race finally got back underway as Vesti got the action back underway with a rolling start. As the pack raced towards turn one, Vesti entered Sainte Devote unchallenged while Martins was put under some pressure up the hill by Pourchaire. However, the ART’s spaced out slightly as they raced through the swimming pool sequence of corners.

On lap 30, Martin’s place on the podium crumbled as the ART driver was slapped with a drive-through penalty for failing to slow down under yellow flags. The replays showed Martins had nearly collided with Doohan’s stranded Virtuosi and the fire marshals out on track, luckily, the ART driver reacted well enough to avoid a collision.

Martins pitted on lap 31, from second place, and returned to the circuit in eighth between Trident’s Roman Stanek (seventh) and Hitech’s Jak Crawford (eighth).

Due to the red-flag stop, the race converted from a lapped race to a timed one as the time limit would not allow the Feature Race to meet its required lap count. As a result of the change, five minutes remained on the clock and Vesti remained in the lead ahead of Pourchaire and Maloney.

Podium:

1. Frederik Vesti, Prema
2. Theo Pourchaire, ART
3. Zane Maloney, Carlin

That’s it for the article: Monaco GP: Vesti secures F2 feature race win as Doohan brings out red flag!

Read more Formula Two here:

• Monaco GP: Iwasa secures sprint win after Hadjar suffers problems
• Azerbaijan GP: Bearman walks to F2 win after chaotic final restart
• F2 Saudi Arabia GP: Iwasa controls sprint race after early move
• F2 Bahrain Feature Race: Pourchaire dominates first feature race of 2023
• F2 2023 Bahrain: Boschung secures maiden win comfortably ahead of Hauger
• Dams confirm Arthur Leclerc to join 2023 F2 grid

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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.

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.