Formula 2: Saturday Sprint won by Marcus Armstrong

Saturday’s sprint in Formula 2 was somehow too calm and the events on the track are unlikely to have given fans much pleasure as they haven’t seen much battle on the track. Perhaps the pilots were too careful and saved their strength and equipment for tomorrow’s race, for which they give more points.

On the other hand, many were warned during the sprint for exceeding the track limits, and some were even fined, and this seems to indicate that the participants in the race attacked from the heart in the corners. Incidentally, it is precisely such violations that can still influence the results of the sprint – there is a risk that they will be revised.

At the start, Marcus Armstrong held onto the lead, but Jack Duane made his way from 5th to 3rd, ahead of Richard Fershor, and ran after Theo Purscher. Personal season leader Felipe Drugovic, who started the race fifth, was also able to get ahead of Fershhor and climb to 4th position. But in general the start went without incident.

At the start of the second lap, Yuri Vips tried to attack Logan Sargent, the winner of the Silverstone race, and claim 7th position, but the American fought back.

Soon Marino Sato drove into the pits, but not for a pit stop – they are not mandatory in sprint races – but because of some problems with the car.

Armstrong gradually extended the lead, his lead over Purcher exceeded a second, preventing the Frenchman from using DRS. Meanwhile, Duane Drugovich was already overtaking, who managed to get quite close to the opponent’s car. In addition, it was Drugovic who scored the best lap of the race.

In the 6th lap Frederik Vesti tried to beat Ayumu Iwasu but the Japanese bounced back, in turn the Dane was already pressured by Enzo Fittipaldi, trying to move him from 9th position.

On lap 10, Cem Bolukbashi, a Turkish driver of the Czech team Charouz Racing System, returned to the pits due to technical difficulties.

The stewards announced a 5-second penalty to Vesti for not respecting the course limits. Purscher already had two such offenses and if he continued in the same vein, he could also be punished. Soon he was indeed presented with a black and white flag, and this is the final warning.

A virtual safety car mode was briefly introduced on lap 13 when Liam Lawson’s car pulled up at the side of the road, but after a while the New Zealander was able to drive on, albeit only to get to the pits. But even before them he did not reach it, stopped at the entrance to the pit lane.

When the first half of the distance lagged, the peloton stretched a bit and there were no bright events. Even the top five riders were separated by intervals of more than a second, so none of them could use DRS, and everyone just rode one after the other for a fairly noticeable distance.

Just outside the top five, the situation was a little more interesting: Sargent tried to chase Fershhor and prepared an attack, claiming 6th position, but so far it hasn’t taken any active action.

The situation got worse when Sargent caught up with Ivas, and that – Fittipaldi. Everyone was driving close together and only Fershor could not use the DRS, respectively was in the least favorable position.

With three laps to go before the finish, Duane added noticeably, riding close to Purscher and you could expect a fierce battle for 2nd place before the finish as well.

“Also” – because Sargent, already mentioned above, already started to attack Fershhor, and it seemed that the Dutchman only by miraculously managed to hold on to 6th position.

Duane pushed with all his might on Purscher, who ruined his mood at the end of the race: Theo broke the limits of the track too often and his actions will be examined after the finish.

A circle before the finish, yellow flags appeared as Roberto Meri’s car stopped on the side of the road, unexpectedly returning to Formula 2 this weekend, but he was unlucky, not reaching the end of the distance.

This neutralized the situation and we saw no more attacks on the last lap: Marcus Armstrong crossed the finish line first, Theo Purscher did it a second behind him, who, however, could still be fined, and also on the again on the podium – for the third time this season – rose Jack Doohan.

Felipe Drugovic took 4th place and maintained a very noticeable lead over Purcher in the individual standings, but the race winner moved up to 5th place ahead of Lawson.

Race results