John N
Felipe Drugovich overcame a post-Qualifying penalty to win the Barcelona Sprint Race at a canter. The MP Motorsport driver led every lap from that point, and victory moved him to the top of the Formula 2 Drivers’ Championship. Ayumu Iwasa and Logan Sargeant secured their maiden F2 podiums, finishing second and third. They were followed by Jehan Daruvala, who finished where he started, and Théo Pourchaire, who conceded the lead of the Championship to Drugovich. Feature Race pole-sitter Jack Doohan claimed sixth, Frederick Vesti followed in seventh, with Enzo Fittipaldi, Liam Lawson, and Marcus Armstrong completing the top 10.
The moment it all got away from Juri Vips 😩
He'll be hoping to make amends on Sunday, where he starts P2 for the Feature Race#SpanishGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/ROOfSojaaG
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 21, 2022
AS IT HAPPENED
Calan Williams had gained pole after Drugovich’s penalty but stalled on the formation lap. As the rest of the field got going, he was consigned to a pit lane start.
Defacto pole man Jake Hughes was swamped into Turn 1 with Drugovich claiming the high ground and race lead. Iwasa got a great start and was up to second, having started fifth on the grid, and Sargeant rose from sixth to third in the opening corners.
Daruvala was also on the go, putting a great move on Pourchaire outside Turn 10 to take fifth from the Championship leader. Jüri Vips compounded the Frenchman’s woes, claiming sixth position into Turn 1 to open lap 2.
Calan Williams' heart must have sunk to his boots when this happened on Saturday 😭#SpanishGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/BwqhcVdC3S
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 21, 2022
Nobody in the top 10 had escaped the DRS zone of the driver behind as it was enabled. Sargeant was flying and having set the fastest lap across the line on lap 4, shaped for a move down the inside of Iwasa. Some canny defensive driving from the DAMS driver forced the American to back out of the move, squeezing him to the apex of the first corner.
Vips weren’t as shy, but after almost making a similar move on Daruvala with a dive at Turn 1, he spun off moments later at Turn 4 in his pursuit. Beached in the gravel, the incident brought out the Safety Car on lap 7.
Amaury Cordeel was assigned a 10-second stop/go penalty for being out of position at Safety Car line one after being deployed.
You don't see a lot of overtakes here…
But the Little Shark found a way 🦈#SpanishGP #F2 @enzofitti pic.twitter.com/YPLW6qC01c
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 21, 2022
Racing got back underway on lap 9, with Drugovich going early ahead of the final chicane to leave Iwasa and the rest trailing.
Olli Caldwell moved on Cem Bölükbasi to take the 15th position on lap 14 with DRS assistance. The order shifted up ahead, too, with Clément Novalak diving by Richard Verschoor’s Trident into Turn 1 a lap later.
Williams was up to 17th on his comeback drive but couldn’t find a way past the Turkish driver. A move to force the Charouz Racing System man defensive almost opened the door for an unorthodox move. Up the inside of Turn 3, the Trident driver couldn’t find a route through as Bölükbasi resisted the move. With DRS on the main straight on lap 18, Williams finally got the move done to gain 16th.
Daruvala had been cooped up behind Hughes’ Van Amersfoort Racing but finally nailed a DRS pass on lap 20 to move up to fourth place. Pourchaire repeated the move one lap later to clear the British driver. Doohan was next up, Hughes being passed into Turn 1 for the third lap running. Lap 23 and Vesti was through for seventh.
Sargeant ahead of Hughes and on the way to h
Fittipaldi wasn’t hanging around though, making an ambitious move around Turn 10 stick on the VAR man before Lawson and Marcus Armstrong, both made it past Hughes on the main straight in one go. Novalak added to Hughes’ misery at Turn 4 to demote him again before VAR peeled into the pits, ultimately retiring from the race.
One lap later, Novalak was the one dropping down the order, running wide at Turn 9 but managing to avoid the barriers to rejoin down in 14th.
Out in front, Drugovich was unchallenged, and the order remained as it was after the Safety Car was withdrawn. Iwasa and Sargeant rounded out the rostrum, with both rookies claiming their maiden podiums in the second tier.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP VIEW
Drugovich’s victory moves him five points clear of Pourchaire and into the F2 Drivers’ Championship lead on 61 points. The rest of the top five remains, with Daruvala third on 41, Lawson in fourth on 35 points, and Richard Verschoor fifth with 32.
In the Teams’ Championship, MP Motorsport extends its advantage over ART Grand Prix, 73 points to 66 in the Dutch team’s favor. Hitech Grand Prix follows six points behind ART in third.
