Roundup of the second round of 2022 F2 season as Felipe Drugovich dominated in Saudi Arabia.
Theo Pourchaire entered this round as the championship leader but like in 2021, Saudi Arabia threw up several curveballs including five red flags across Practice and Qualifying.
The Sprint and Feature Races however were hugely contrastable packed with plenty of action and drama as Liam Lawson and Drugovich emerged victorious.
Now here is a full roundup of the entire Saudi Arabian round of the 2022 F2 season.
Practice
Trident’s Richard Verschoor and Calan Williams led the field out of the pitlane at the start of Practice but it was Campos’ Ralph Boschung who immediately set the pace as he posted 1m 45.404 to go top, before Drugovich went top with a lap time of 1m 44.100 which was 1.304 seconds quicker.
Boschung then reduced that deficit on his next flier to just 0.481s in the 15th minute, before Cem Bolukbasi brought out the first of two red flags after he crashed between Turns 11 and 12, which caused him to be ruled out for the rest of the weekend on medical grounds.
Once the session began 12 minutes later, Verschoor again was first back out on track with Liam Lawson, Marcus Armstrong and Ayumu all improving to second, third and fourth respectively.
Drugovich meanwhile remained unchallenged with his lap time of 1m 44.100 as the red flag was waved with eight minutes left, following a crash for Theo Pourchaire between Turns 23 and 24 which meant the session couldn’t be resumed in time.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 1m 44.100 |
| 2 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | + 0.150 |
| 3 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | + 0.334 |
| 4 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 0.386 |
| 5 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.481 |
| 6 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | + 0.658 |
| 7 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.672 |
| 8 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | + 0.916 |
| 9 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 0.980 |
| 10 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | + 1.047 |
| 11 | Jake Hughes | VAR | + 1.059 |
| 12 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 1.136 |
| 13 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 1.325 |
| 14 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 1.374 |
| 15 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | + 1.851 |
| 16 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | + 1.993 |
| 17 | Calan Williams | Trident | + 2.007 |
| 18 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | + 2.626 |
| 19 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 3.344 |
| 20 | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | + 3.781 |
| 21 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | + 18.310 |
| 22 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | + 28.104 |
Qualifying
Like at the start of Practice, Verschoor and Williams were again first out on track for Qualifying with the latter setting an early benchmark time of 1m 44.464, which was swiftly displaced by Iwasa, Novalak and Boschung who went top with 1m 42.096 after his first flier.
Upon completion of the opening flying laps, Boschung sat top ahead of Jake Hughes and Juri Vips but it was Hughes who emerged quickest after the second fliers with 1m 41.538 ahead of Boschung by 0.081s.
Pourchaire however caused a red flag in the 12th minute after he suffered an engine failure but the session resumed ten minutes later, with Verschoor leading everyone but Novalak back out with drivers needing two warm-up laps to get the tyres up to temperature before doing a flying lap.
The session was then red flagged again just six minutes later after Logan Sargeant crashed heavily on the exit of Turn 17, with the session again recommencing after a ten minute stoppage.
Armstrong who won here in December proceeded to go fastest in the 23rd minute with 1m 41.050 which was just 0.007s quicker than Boschung with Iwasa up to third quickest.
A false alarm on Frederik Vesti’s ART GP car then caused a third and final red flag in the 26th minute with 4 minutes 57s left on the clock, meaning that many drivers didn’t have fuel for another run due to a ban on refuelling.
Drugovich consequently was able to snatch pole with 1m 40.422 ahead of Verschoor and Doohan as Armstrong was knocked down to fourth position.
Doohan however was disqualified due to failing to provide enough fuel for a fuel sample check which meant that he would start both races from the back of the grid, whilst five drivers were handed grid penalties for the Sprint Race.
Amaury Cordeel who had qualified 20th also joined Doohan on the back row after he was slapped with a ten-place grid penalty, as punishment for his failure to slow sufficiently past the scene of Sargeant’s crash despite red and double-waved yellow flags being shown.
Vesti meanwhile was penalised three grid spots for impeding Boschung on the Swiss’s last flier at Turn 27 after turning into the apex too early.
Novalak meanwhile was handed a five-place grid penalty for impeding Olli Caldwell at Turn 22, whilst the Brit too was found guilty of impeding at that same corner after blocking Juri Vips.
Vips also was penalised after he impeded Enzo Fittipaldi at Turn 10 with the Estonian and Caldwell both handed three-place grid penalties for the Sprint Race.
Vips consequently started the Sprint from sixth whilst Novalak, Vesti, Caldwell and Cordeel lined-up 15th, 17th, 19th and 20th on the grid.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 1m 40.422 |
| 2 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 0.226 |
| 3* | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | + 0.602 |
| 4 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | + 0.628 |
| 5 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.635 |
| 6 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | + 0.720 |
| 7 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 0.772 |
| 8 | Calan Williams | Trident | + 1.047 |
| 9 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 1.111 |
| 10 | Jake Hughes | VAR | + 1.116 |
| 11 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 1.288 |
| 12 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | + 1.288 |
| 13 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 1.549 |
| 14 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | + 1.756 |
| 15 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | + 1.759 |
| 16 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | + 2.098 |
| 17 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 2.483 |
| 18 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | + 2.698 |
| 19 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | + 2.838 |
| 20 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | + 4.015 |
| 21 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 4.314 |
| DNQ* | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | No Time |
*Jack Doohan was disqualified after failing to provide enough fuel for a sample check.
Dennis Hauger consequently inherited pole position ahead of Hughes, Williams and Iwasa who completed the front two rows.
Sprint Race
At lights out, Hauger got a clean start to lead from Williams and Iwasa who jumped Hughes after the Brit suffered a slow getaway on soft tyres, having opted for the tyre gamble in hope of several lengthy Safety Car periods.
Hughes however recovered third from Iwasa at the end of the opening lap as Armstrong then snatched sixth from Boschung at the start of Lap Two, just before the Safety Car was deployed for five laps after Cordeel crashed heavily at Turn 12.
The resulting damage consequently forced Cordeel to withdraw from the Feature Race.
On the restart at end of Lap Six, Hauger waited until the first Safety Car line before bolting, which caused a chain reaction throughout the pack and resulted in Doohan ploughing his Virtuosi car into the rear of Sargeant’s Carlin at high-speed to cause another Safety Car period.
Stewards initially instructed all cars to follow the Safety Car through the pit lane before realising that Doohan and Sargeant’s car were blocking the pit entry, resulting in the closure of the pit entry which came too late to be relayed for Hauger who had decided to drive through the pit-lane.
Everyone else however stayed out and the Norwegian consequently lost the lead as he slipped to 12th as he re-joined the circuit, with Stewards adding extra insult with a 10s stop-go penalty as punishment for failing to stay out behind the Safety Car.
Up front, the race resumed on Lap 14 as Williams got jumped by Hughes who claimed the lead through Turn Two, with Lawson following through that same lap as Boschung meanwhile got demoted by Drugovich and Verschoor to ninth position.
Drugovich then passed Armstrong for sixth on the next lap before getting past Iwasa two laps later, whilst Vips cleared Williams for third on Lap 16.
Hughes’ soft tyres meanwhile began struggling for grip against Lawson’s faster medium tyres, with Lawson eventually clearing Hughes for victory into Turn One on Lap 18, just as Armstrong and Verschoor demoted Iwasa to eighth that same lap.
Armstrong however suffered a race-ending spin that very same lap at Turn 16 which caused a brief Virtual Safety Car.
Lawson however was able to cruise to victory as Vips snatched second from Hughes on the line ahead of Drugovich, Williams, Verschoor, Iwasa and Boschung who completed the top eight points-scoring finishers.
Hughes however was disqualified post-race after his skid plank was found to have a maximum thickness of 3.6mm, which was against the regulatory requirement of 5mm give or take 1mm either side of that number.
Drugovich consequently inherited third ahead of Williams, Verschoor and Iwasa but Boschung was handed a 20s-time penalty, after he was found to had been in front of his grid position at the start yet stewards didn’t officially pick up on his breach of rules during the race.
Boschung consequently dropped from eighth to 15th and including Hughes’ disqualification, it meant that Jehan Daruvala and Marino Sato were promoted to seventh and eighth positions.
Lawson meanwhile inherited the championship lead as a consequence of his win as he improved to 34 points, ahead of Vips who sits seven points behind in second as the pair demoted Pourchaire to third after the Frenchman only finished 13th in the race.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | 20 | 47m 55.487 |
| 2 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | 20 | + 3.166 |
| 3 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 20 | + 4.846 |
| 4 | Calan Williams | Trident | 20 | + 6.277 |
| 5 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 20 | + 12.121 |
| 6 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 20 | + 13.520 |
| 7 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | 20 | + 15.237 |
| 8 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | 20 | + 16.040 |
| 9 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 20 | + 17.390 |
| 10 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | 20 | + 17.441 |
| 11 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | 20 | + 18.739 |
| 12 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | 20 | + 20.298 |
| 13 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 20 | + 20.569 |
| 14 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | 20 | + 25.495 |
| 15* | Ralph Boschung | Campos | 20 | + 34.454 |
| 16 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | 20 | + 51.495 |
| RET | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | 17 | Spin |
| RET | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | 5 | Collision |
| RET | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 5 | Collision |
| RET | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | 1 | Spin |
| DSQ | Jake Hughes | VAR | 20 | Floor |
*Boschung was handed a 20s time penalty for parking beyond his grid slot on the race start.
Feature Race
The original start was abandoned due to unhappiness over how the grid had lined up but once the race properly began, Drugovich led Verschoor whilst Lawson and Hauger improved to fourth and eighth from fifth and tenth respectively.
Lawson then passed Armstrong into Turn One on the second lap to claim third, whilst Drugovich found himself fending off Verschoor until he pitted at the end of Lap Eight after surviving a Lap Five attack into Turn One from the Dutchman.
Verschoor tried the overcut by pitting a lap later but Drugovich had done enough to cover him as the pair settled into net first and second places, which eventually became the top two finishers once everyone completed their pit stops.
Lawson however was eliminated by a loose wheel nut at his pit stop at the start of Lap 10, just two laps after Pourchaire retired with electrical issues as the top two Feature Race finishers from Bahrain became the only retirees of this race.
Hauger meanwhile assumed the lead on Lap 10 following Verschoor’s stop as he plus Novalak, Doohan, Caldwell and Sargeant all tried the alternate medium-soft tyre strategy, with the 2021 F3 champion unchallenged out in front.
Doohan meanwhile battled Novalak hard until he swept round the outside of Turn One on Lap 17 for second, with Novalak pitting at the end of that lap.
Hauger and Doohan though were able to last until the end of laps 22 and 23 respectively and recovered to sixth and ninth respectively with Iwasa and Nissany separating the pair, whilst Vips rounded out the top ten.
Drugovich meanwhile clinched the championship lead as he cruised to victory ahead of Verschoor and Daruvala, with the Brazilian now holding a six-point lead over Lawson with Verschoor a further two points behind in third place.
Hughes finished fourth ahead of Armstrong after completing a crucial inside move at the final corner of Lap 23 to finish ahead of the New Zealander.
F2 now will take a break with the third round set for Imola across the weekend of 22-24 April after an in-season test between 12-14 April in Barcelona, Spain.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 27 | 47m 41.485 |
| 2 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 27 | + 2.379 |
| 3 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | 27 | + 15.358 |
| 4 | Jake Hughes | VAR | 27 | + 19.117 |
| 5 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | 27 | + 20.595 |
| 6 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | 27 | + 21.071 |
| 7 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 27 | + 27.108 |
| 8 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 27 | + 28.428 |
| 9 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 27 | + 28.861 |
| 10 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | 27 | + 32.173 |
| 11 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | 27 | + 32.647 |
| 12 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | 27 | + 37.612 |
| 13 | Calan Williams | Trident | 27 | + 38.282 |
| 14 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | 27 | + 42.370 |
| 15 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | 27 | + 47.601 |
| 16 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | 27 | + 48.706 |
| 17 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | 27 | + 50.384 |
| 18 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | 26 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Liam Lawson | Carlin | 9 | Wheel |
| RET | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 7 | Electric |
| WD* | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | 0 | Withdrawal |
*Amaury Cordeel was withdrawn from the Feature Race due to too much damage on his Van Amersfoort Racing car, following a crash in the Sprint Race.
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