Formula 2: Iwasa wins the sprint and takes the lead in the series

Saturday’s sprint started from pole position in Monaco, so Isaac Hadjar, the French debutant of the Hitech team, for whom this circuit is almost home, naturally wanted to excel. Looking ahead, let’s say he failed.

In qualifying he posted the tenth fastest time and under Formula 2 regulations he had to start a short race from first position, which is almost a guarantee of success on a city circuit, where overtaking is extremely difficult.

But Ayumu Iwasa started from second position and Jehan Daruwala started from third, with both being combative and promising to take every chance to win.

Hajjar got off to a good start, defended his position against Iwasa’s attack and kept the lead. But already on the first lap in the chicane at the exit of the tunnel, a blockage occurred because Clement Novalak collided with Kush Maini’s car from behind and the Indian Dallara flipped over.

Novalak managed to return to the pits but had to replace the nosecone, Maini was able to continue but Roy Nissani and Ralph Boschung left the race. Arthur Leclerc was also among the participants in the blockade, and he too had to visit the pits unscheduled, but he returned to the track.

The safety car took off and the stewards began to investigate the incident.

On the sixth lap the battle resumed and at first it seemed that Hajjar had a good restart, but it immediately became clear that he had some problems with the car: he lost speed and all the rivals just passed by. At first Isaac suggested on the radio that the wheel was flat, then put forward another version that it was the engine.

At the same time, he kept moving and got to the boxes, so there were no yellow flags. In the meantime it was announced that Novalak had been fined for speeding in the pit lane.

Now Iwasa was in the lead in the race, who had already managed to create a lead of 2 seconds over Daruwala, and the third was the American Jack Crawford, the partner of the unfortunate Hajjar, but who, in turn, had already lagged behind Jehan – perhaps because he was pressured by the experienced Richard Fershhor.

Meanwhile, Daruwala stepped up clearly and cut the lead by half, his lead over Crawford already over four seconds and soon reaching five.

As the race crossed the equator, Daruwala managed to get close enough to Iwasa to use the DRS system, but Ayumu reacted to this and added. But Jehan also added, and it could be assumed that towards the end of the race he could be worrying the Japanese driver of the Red Bull youth program. In the corners he came quite close to the DAMS team car, but on the straights Iwasa pulled away again.

Fershhor continued to drive, literally buried in the gearbox of Crawford’s car, but it was impossible to overtake, although the Dutchman was vocally concerned, communicating to the team over the radio that the opponent was driving too slowly. It seems that all the conditions for an attack? In addition, the podium is at stake. But this is Monaco, and here all maneuvers are risky, and the last thing Fershor wanted was to crash the car.

But there were other riders in a similar situation: the same Richard was already being pressured by Zane Maloney, Frederick Vesti came close to Theo Purscher to claim 8th, and Enzo Fittipaldi would attack the Dane.

But here the measured course of events was interrupted by the departure of Amory Kordila in the same 5th corner, where Lewis Hamilton crashed into the bumper today. The safety car pulled out again. There were 7 laps to the finish.

The restart took place on the 25th lap. Iwasa acted very skillfully, kept the lead, Daruvala pursued him, but the most curious thing is that Crawford tried to attack him, who until recently was very far behind, but now decided to take advantage of the fact that all the gaps were equal.

At the same time, Iwasa was able to pull away from Daruwala by more than four seconds in just one lap, indicating that he can warm up the rubber faster than his rivals.

Dennis Hauger could have triggered another safety car run when he missed the chicane at the exit of the tunnel, and his car flew quite high and very effectively onto the curb. But the technique survived the landing and he kept moving.

A few laps from the finish, Arthur Leclerc tried to get ahead of Kush Maini and was already on the attack in the straight, but he managed to stay ahead. However, it was only a dispute for a distant 14th position.

But then the race was over, and Ayumu Iwasa added his win to his victory in Saturday’s sprint in Monaco, climbing to the top of the podium for the third time this season. As a result, the Japanese rider led the individual classification of the youth series.

Jehan Daruwala saw the second black and white checkered flag, a second and a half behind him – Jack Crawford, who, despite all his efforts, could not keep ahead of Richard Fershhor.

Tomorrow morning the most important Formula 2 race will be held in Monaco, in which Frederic Vesti will start from pole position, who took 9th place today.