Formula 2: Liam Lawson wins Saturday’s sprint

Saturday’s Formula 2 sprint started with three cars failing the formation lap, after which Richard Fershor, Enzo Fittipaldi and Clement Novalak had to start from the pit lane.

Jehan Daruwala started the race from pole position after showing the 10th result in qualifying the day before. He is quite an experienced racer and nothing stopped him from staying in the lead, but Liam Lawson ‘blundered’ at the start and let Armstrong go first.

But just behind the top three, more interesting events took place: Theo Purscher managed to break through from sixth to fourth place, Felipe Drugovich and Jack Duane also managed to come forward and overtake Youri Vips. Logan Sargent, who had won pole position the day before, started tenth but managed to regain one position.

It seemed that by the third lap the situation had stabilized somewhat, the peloton began to stretch, almost no one took particularly active actions, but it was a temporary lull. Already on the next lap Lawson rushed to attack Armstrong, a beautiful duel ensued between them, the cars literally drove wheel to wheel for several turns, and as a result Liam was able to regain the lost position at the start.

In the sixth lap, Daruvala brought the advantage to almost two seconds, followed by two New Zealanders, but Armstrong was already starting to be pressured by Theo Purscher, who had lost second place in the individual standings the day before and now wanted to do it passionately. earn back on his home job.

Obviously Armstrong wasn’t going to let the Frenchman go, he added a bit, but Purscher also accelerated. At the same time, Markus was a second behind his compatriot, who had overtaken him a few laps back, and Liam, in turn, was noticeably approaching the leader.

But the race was neutralized by yellow flags and then safety car exit after a corner by Enzo Fittipaldi, who clearly exaggerated and tried to somehow correct his position after starting from the pit lane. The Brazilian’s car bounced clumsily onto the curb at the intersection of Turn 8 and Turn 9, it started to spin, and that’s when Roberto Meri passed. He almost dodged a sudden hurdle, but Enzo “got” him anyway.

It appeared that the Spanish racer’s car was not too damaged and he continued to move, although he shouted over the radio everything he thinks about the descendant of the great Emerson Fittipaldi. However, he only managed to reach the pits of his Campos team. Amaury Cordil also had a breakdown, hitting the Brazilian car blocking the track with the left side – debris flew in different directions, after which they both got out.

On lap 13, the safety car returned to the pit lane and the battle resumed on track.

On the restart, Lawson tried to attack Daruwala, but failed. Drugovich put pressure on Purscher, but he managed to get away for a bit, although it was clear Theo was pushing his limits as in corners he braked clearly before the wheels locked up.

After the restart, all the riders followed each other at intervals of no more than a second, therefore everyone except the leader was able to use DRS, so so far no one has been able to overtake. It wasn’t until the second ten that a battle of sorts took place, where Roy Nissany, for example, made a mistake, couldn’t stay on track, benefiting his rivals, and he himself fell back to 18th position.

But on lap 16 Lawson mounted a decisive attack on Daruwala and still managed to get ahead of him – it seems the Indian rider, despite all his experience, hadn’t expected this. In fact, there was even light contact between the machines.

Leading the pack, Liam immediately tried to add, broke away for more than a second – he had something to fight for as there were only four laps left to the finish, victory was close and everything depended only on ​of its speed and ability to work with rubber, which worked with high loads in such heat.

It is also worth noting that another Red Bull youth driver, Ayumu Iwasa, overtook Logan Sargent and regained the position he had lost at the start of the race. But this happened at the end of the top ten.

A few laps before the finish, Marcus Armstrong tried to attack Daruwala, there was contact between the cars and Jehan appeared to be off the track, but he showed a fighting spirit and not only returned to the track but also regained his position.

Theo Purscher took advantage of this collision and attacked Armstrong very aggressively. The fight again had a contact character – as a result, the French rider ART broke through to 3rd position and his opponent rolled back to 6th.

All this happened behind the leader: Lawson crossed the finish line calmly, more than three seconds ahead of Daruwala, the Indian rider took second, Pursher – third. Drugovich, the leader of the individual classification, managed to keep the loss of points to a minimum, he finished fourth and Jack Duane closed the top five.

However, as is often the case in the youth series, it cannot be ruled out that the results of the race will still be revised as the stewards began to analyze the incidents that occurred in the final laps, and to their judgment, the results of the race is considered preliminary.

It seems that the only thing that is beyond doubt is Liam Lawson’s win, by the way, the second this season, and in total New Zealand rider Carlin has already climbed the podium for the fifth time.

Sprint results Saturday