Roundup of the seventh round of 2022 F2 season as motorsport’s second-tier hit the halfway mark of the campaign at Silverstone, Great Britain.
MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich arrived on British soil as championship leader with a 49-point lead over Theo Pourchaire, as the latter looked to reduce his title deficit in the first of four race weekends throughout July.
Great Britain’s Jake Hughes and Olli Caldwell meanwhile looked to impress at their home round which was packed with plenty of thrills and spills, as the typical unpredictable British weather reared its head across the weekend.
Drugovich though ultimately left with his title lead still fairly intact whilst F2 crowned two new race winners on opposite sides of the world.
Now, here is a full roundup of all the action at Silverstone across Practice, Qualifying and both races.
Practice
Charouz’s Enzo Fittipaldi was first out on track and set the initial benchmark time of 1m 44.411 ahead of Richard Verschoor and Jack Doohan, only to be displaced by championship leader – Drugovich a minute later who posted 1m 42.852 to go top.
Doohan however went fastest by 0.622 seconds just mere moments later before PREMA’s Dennis Hauger spun at Abbey, before his teammate – Jehan Daruvala posted 1m 41.916 a minute later to go top but Pourchaire went fastest in the 15th minute by 0.131s.
Doohan then displaced the Frenchman with 1m 41.563 but was soon displaced by Drugovich who went top by 0.003s from sacked Red Bull junior – Juri Vips who had been handed a second chance by Hitech GP after using racial language in a live gaming stream.
Doohan and Drugovich soon found further improvement but their lap times were deleted due to exceeding track limits, whilst Pourchaire posted 1m 41.459 to go top but Logan Sargeant found 0.496s to sit top at the halfway mark with 1m 40.963 as a brief rain shower fell across Silverstone.
The red flag was waved in the 29th minute after Trident’s Calan Williams spun off at Copse with the session resuming ten minutes later, although Marino Sato stopped at Luffield three minutes later with a mechanical issue to bring the session to a premature close.
Sargeant however was able to find time just before the second red flag to lower his session-topping time to 1m 40.902, which was 0.037s quicker than Drugovich as Doohan, Ayumu Iwasa and Pourchaire rounded out the top five.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | 1m 40.902 |
| 2 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | + 0.037 |
| 3 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | + 0.180 |
| 4 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 0.188 |
| 5 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.247 |
| 6 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | + 0.274 |
| 7 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 0.375 |
| 8 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | + 0.392 |
| 9 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 0.437 |
| 10 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | + 0.660 |
| 11 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.795 |
| 12 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 1.043 |
| 13 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | + 1.130 |
| 14 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | + 1.158 |
| 15 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | + 1.802 |
| 16 | Calan Williams | Trident | + 1.974 |
| 17 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 2.114 |
| 18 | Jake Hughes | VAR | + 2.130 |
| 19 | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | + 2.544 |
| 20 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | + 2.904 |
| 21 | David Beckmann | VAR | + 3.421 |
| 22 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 24.730 |
Qualifying
Fittipaldi led the field out for the opening runs but Drugovich set the initial benchmark time of 1m 39.979 but was displaced by Vips, Doohan and Frederik Vesti, with only Vips improving best of those latter three drivers on the second flying laps to go second ahead of Liam Lawson.
Carlin’s Logan Sargeant meanwhile unexpectedly found himself on provisional pole at the halfway point ahead of Vips, having posted 1m 38.946 in the 12th minute to go fastest.
Daruvala opted to run in the gap which saw him leap up to second ahead of the final runs which ultimately saw Sargeant clinch his maiden F2 pole position, after posting a session-topping 1m 38.432 in the 24th minute.
Vesti will join Sargeant on the front row after finishing second ahead of Drugovich, Pourchaire, Lawson, Iwasa, Doohan, Vips, Fittipaldi and Daruvala, who claimed reverse-pole position for the Sprint Race.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | 1m 38.432 |
| 2 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 0.102 |
| 3 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | + 0.121 |
| 4 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.121 |
| 5 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | + 0.193 |
| 6 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 0.302 |
| 7 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | + 0.469 |
| 8 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 0.581 |
| 9 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | + 0.645 |
| 10 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | + 0.683 |
| 11 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 0.790 |
| 12 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | + 0.834 |
| 13 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 0.997 |
| 14 | Jake Hughes | VAR | + 1.016 |
| 15 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 1.060 |
| 16 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | + 1.148 |
| 17 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 1.165 |
| 18 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | + 1.228 |
| 19 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | + 1.245 |
| 20 | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | + 1.259 |
| 21 | Calan Williams | Trident | + 1.480 |
| 22 | David Beckmann | VAR | + 1.859 |
Sprint Race
Hours before the start of the Sprint Race, Campos announced that Ralph Boschung had withdrawn from the event due to continued neck pain, which has seen the Swiss driver now pull out of three of the last four rounds.
Following periodic rain showers across F1 Qualifying and the intervening hour, stewards opted to start the Sprint Race behind the Safety Car for two formation laps with everyone on wet tyres, prior to a rolling start as Daruvala led the field racing as he fought off Fittipaldi.
Vesti meanwhile leapt up the inside of Drugovich into Brooklands on Lap Two to claim eighth, having banged wheels just a few corners earlier.
Tyre degradation however soon came into effect as Doohan cleared Vips for third on Lap Five, whilst Fittipaldi dived up the inside of Daruvala at Club to take the lead with the Indian then passed by Doohan and Iwasa on the next lap.
Doohan quickly reeled in Fittipaldi and passed the Brazilian on Lap Seven after Fittipaldi ran wide at Village, which enabled Doohan to cruise to victory ahead of Iwasa who passed Fittipaldi into Copse on the next lap to secure second and third respectively.
Behind the front runners, Vips struggled with his tyre degradation as he fought off Pourchaire until Lap Eight with Vesti, Drugovich, Sargeant and Marcus Armstrong eventually all passing him as he finished tenth, whilst Daruvala finished eighth after also struggling for tyre wear.
Drugovich meanwhile managed to repass Vesti on Lap 16 after the Danish driver ran wide at Luffield en route to fifth and sixth respectively, as they both managed to pass Daruvala on the following two laps with Sargeant making a pass on the penultimate lap to finish seventh.
Up front, Iwasa kept his tyres in better shape but was unable to reel Doohan in quickly enough as the Aussie clinched his first F2 win ahead of the DAMS driver, with Fittipaldi, Pourchaire, Drugovich, Vesti, Sargeant and Daruvala rounding out the top eight finishers.
In the driver standings, Drugovich’s 49-point lead was marginally trimmed to 48 points after the Brazilian finished fifth, just behind his title rival – Pourchaire who finished fourth.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 20 | 40m 42.488 |
| 2 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 20 | + 0.932 |
| 3 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | 20 | + 16.722 |
| 4 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 20 | + 17.888 |
| 5 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 20 | + 21.717 |
| 6 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | 20 | + 26.830 |
| 7 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | 20 | + 28.284 |
| 8 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | 20 | + 36.291 |
| 9 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | 20 | + 38.699 |
| 10 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 20 | + 43.770 |
| 11 | Jake Hughes | VAR | 20 | + 44.611 |
| 12 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | 20 | + 48.113 |
| 13 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | 20 | + 49.448 |
| 14 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 20 | + 54.509 |
| 15 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | 20 | + 55.235 |
| 16 | David Beckmann | VAR | 20 | + 58.703 |
| 17 | Calan Williams | Trident | 20 | + 66.077 |
| 18 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | 20 | + 66.411 |
| 19 | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | 20 | + 81.711 |
| 20 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | 20 | + 95.025 |
| RET | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | 11 | Engine |
| DNS | Ralph Boschung | Campos | 0 | Neck |
Feature Race
At lights out, Sargeant made a clean start to lead a fast-starting Pourchaire who leapt from fourth to second ahead of Lawson and Iwasa, who both bumped Drugovich to fifth as Vesti fell from second to sixth after a slow getaway.
The Safety Car however was deployed at the end of the opening lap as Roy Nissany ran wide on the exit of Stowe and upon rejoining the circuit, he nudged Hauger over the grass with the Norwegian hitting a sausage kerb which launched him up onto Nissany’s DAMS to eliminate both drivers.
Once the race resumed on Lap Six, the top seven held position whilst Armstrong passed Vips for eighth and Novalak cleared Daruvala for tenth.
Up front, Sargeant built a two-second lead over Pourchaire whilst Vesti was first to pit at the end of Lap Nine, which triggered those who started on soft tyres to pit across the following three laps, which left Vips to head Daruvala, Doohan, Jake Hughes, Sato and Williams on the hard tyres.
Vips was the first of the hard tyre runners to pit on Lap 23 with Daruvala and Doohan following suit on the following two laps, which unleashed Sargeant back into the lead as he fended off a late charge from Pourchaire to become the first American winner in F2.
Lawson finished third ahead of Drugovich who had been leapfrogged by Vesti after his stop but fought back on the final lap to snatch fourth ahead of the Dane, Vips, Daruvala, Armstrong, Doohan and Hughes.
In the driver standings, Drugovich’s lead is now reduced further after he was outscored by Pourchaire in both races, with the Brazilian now holding a 42 point lead over his title rival at the halfway stage of the season as Sargeant climbed to third in the standings.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | 29 | 53m 50.586 |
| 2 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 29 | + 1.681 |
| 3 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | 29 | + 8.994 |
| 4 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 29 | + 11.312 |
| 5 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | 29 | + 11.961 |
| 6 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | 29 | + 12.276 |
| 7 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | 29 | + 13.899 |
| 8 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | 29 | + 17.320 |
| 9 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 29 | + 21.033 |
| 10 | Jake Hughes | VAR | 29 | + 28.297 |
| 11 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | 29 | + 29.117 |
| 12 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 29 | + 30.586 |
| 13 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | 29 | + 34.161 |
| 14 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 29 | + 35.004 |
| 15 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | 29 | + 35.426 |
| 16 | Calan Williams | Trident | 29 | + 36.391 |
| 17 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | 29 | + 51.166 |
| 18 | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | 29 | + 61.078 |
| 19 | David Beckmann | VAR | 29 | + 63.207 |
| RET | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | 0 | Collision |
Leave a Reply