Roundup of the eighth round of the 2022 F2 season as the second-tier headed to Austria for a huge weekend of action in the title fight.
Felipe Drugovich arrived in Spielberg looking to control his 42-point championship lead over Theo Pourchaire who needed to start reducing his deficit with seven rounds left.
Carlin’s Logan Sargeant meanwhile turned up looking to force himself into the title mix cue a weekend of twists and turns which set up an enticing fight for the title with six further rounds left between now and mid November.
Now, here is a full roundup of all the F2 action across a hectic weekend at Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria.
Practice
Ayumu Iwasa was first out onto a dry track following a wet-dry F3 practice prior to the F2 practice session, as Van Amersfoort Racing’s Amaury Cordeel then Jake Hughes initially headed the timesheets.
The Virtual Safety Car (VSC) however was deployed briefly in the ninth minute after Trident’s Calan Williams suffered a left rear suspension failure, which caused him to stop out of Turn 3,
Once the VSC was withdrawn, Cordeel went quickest but found himself displaced by Clement Novalak, Juri Vips, Pourchaire and Iwasa.
Sargeant was the first driver to go under the 76 seconds barrier as he posted 1m 15.946 in the 13th minute but was displaced two minutes later by Marcus Armstrong, as the New Zealander went 0.062s quicker.
Sargeant hit back in the 19th minute as he went faster by 0.023s with Pourchaire slotting into second just 0.002s off the American driver, but the Frenchman then went top just minutes later with 1m 15.793 to lead at the halfway mark ahead of Sargeant and Armstrong.
Charouz’s Enzo Fittipaldi spun off at Turn 7 in the 29th minute to cause a five minute red flag, which led to a flurry of late fliers as Iwasa initially went top but Armstrong displaced him but Hughes in the 43rd minute posted 1m 15.038 to top the session.
Pourchaire settled for second ahead of ART GP teammate – Frederik Vesti as Armstrong, Iwasa, Dennis Hauger, Cordeel, Liam Lawson, Drugovich and Sargeant rounded out the top ten.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Jake Hughes | VAR | 1m 15.038 |
| 2 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.430 |
| 3 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | + 0.520 |
| 4 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | + 0.544 |
| 5 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 0.563 |
| 6 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 0.588 |
| 7 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | + 0.592 |
| 8 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | + 0.599 |
| 9 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | + 0.621 |
| 10 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | + 0.660 |
| 11 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 0.772 |
| 12 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 0.937 |
| 13 | Roberto Merhi | Campos | + 1.005 |
| 14 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | + 1.017 |
| 15 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | + 1.263 |
| 16 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 1.277 |
| 17 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | + 1.468 |
| 18 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | + 1.490 |
| 19 | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | + 1.530 |
| 20 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | + 1.621 |
| 21 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | + 1.755 |
| 22 | Calan Williams | Trident | + 13.101 |
Qualifying
Iwasa again was the first driver out on track but his initial benchmark time was bettered by Drugovich then Jack Doohan, with Sargeant sandwiching the latter pair at end of the opening fliers.
Iwasa then hit back to go second in the ninth minute only for Drugovich to displace him as Sargeant went top briefly with 1m 14.424, only for Doohan to go 0.010s quicker as Sargeant then had his time deleted for exceeding track limits.
Doohan consequently headed Drugovich, Vips, Lawson and Pourchaire at the end of the opening runs.
VAR opted to send Cordeel and Hughes out early for their final runs which paid dividends as Cordeel went second ahead of Hughes in third.
Drugovich then went top with four minutes left as he posted 1m 14.315 but Doohan immediately displaced him, unaware that Vesti was on a maiden Feature Race pole-clinching lap as the Dane topped the session with 1m 14.123 ahead of Vips by 0.035s.
Sargeant qualified third ahead of Iwasa, Drugovich, Doohan, Cordeel, Richard Verschoor, Pourchaire and Armstrong who rounded out the top ten, who were all reversed for the Sprint Race with Armstrong on reverse-pole.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | 1m 14.123 |
| 2 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | + 0.035 |
| 3 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | + 0.165 |
| 4 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 0.184 |
| 5 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | + 0.192 |
| 6 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | + 0.195 |
| 7 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | + 0.334 |
| 8 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 0.445 |
| 9 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.493 |
| 10 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | + 0.547 |
| 11 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | + 0.579 |
| 12 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | + 0.617 |
| 13 | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | + 0.642 |
| 14 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | + 0.669 |
| 15 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | + 0.671 |
| 16 | Calan Williams | Trident | + 0.713 |
| 17 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | + 0.772 |
| 18 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | + 0.813 |
| 19 | Jake Hughes | VAR | + 0.882 |
| 20 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | + 1.000 |
| 21 | Roberto Merhi | Campos | + 1.077 |
| 22 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | + 1.533 |
Sprint Race
At lights out, Armstrong made a clean getaway to lead Pourchaire as Doohan, Drugovich and Vips cleared Verschoor in the opening seven laps.
Up front, Armstrong quickly built a steady gap at around 1.5s ahead of Pourchaire, as the Frenchman constantly pushed track limits which culminated in a warning followed by post-race investigation as he fought off Doohan in the closing laps for second.
Pourchaire’s teammate, Vesti meanwhile found himself stuck in a five-car DRS train led by Verschoor to the checkered flag, yet the Dane exceeded track limits on too many occasions and was slapped with a 5s time penalty which ultimately dropped him to 12th at the checkered flag.
Up front, Armstrong comfortably clung on for a third F2 win – of which his two previous victories also came in Sprint Races – ahead of Pourchaire, Doohan, Drugovich and Vips to round out the top five.
Verschoor eventually reached the flag in sixth ahead of Sargeant and Iwasa, whilst Fittipaldi and Hauger benefitted from Vesti’s penalty to round out the top ten.
Iwasa however received a post-race 5s time penalty for forcing Sargeant wide at Turn 3 on the opening lap, which dropped him to 10th in the final classification.
Cordeel meanwhile was hit with a 10s stop-and-go penalty for overtaking in a double-waved yellow flag zone at Turn 2 on the cooldown lap after the checkered flag, yet the penalty couldn’t be served so was converted into a 30s time penalty which dropped him from 16th to 18th.
In the driver standings, Drugovich saw his title lead over Pourchaire slightly reduced to 40 points as Sargeant remained in third but 64 points adrift of the Brazilian.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | 28 | 36m 38.856 |
| 2 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 28 | + 1.090 |
| 3 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 28 | + 2.169 |
| 4 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 28 | + 5.053 |
| 5 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | 28 | + 11.972 |
| 6 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 28 | + 14.832 |
| 7 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | 28 | + 15.291 |
| 8 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | 28 | + 17.538 |
| 9 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | 28 | + 19.337 |
| 10 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 28 | + 20.891 |
| 11 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | 28 | + 21.644 |
| 12 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | 28 | + 22.036 |
| 13 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 28 | + 31.700 |
| 14 | Calan Williams | Trident | 28 | + 34.565 |
| 15 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | 28 | + 38.673 |
| 16 | Jake Hughes | VAR | 28 | + 40.245 |
| 17 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | 28 | + 53.559 |
| 18 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | 28 | + 70.121 |
| 19 | Roberto Merhi | Campos | 27 | + 2 Laps |
| 20 | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | 24 | + 5 Laps |
| RET | Liam Lawson | Carlin | 12 | Mechanical |
| RET | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | 2 | Mechanical |
Feature Race
Overnight rain left a damp drying track as F2 drivers headed to the grid which led to the top seven drivers opting for wet tyres, whilst a mixture of those behind headed by eighth-placed Richard Verschoor gambled for slicks whereas others opted for the wet tyres.
At lights out, Vips beat Vesti off the line to take the lead ahead of Iwasa but Vesti fought back into Turn 4 to claim second, whilst Sargeant headed Doohan, Pourchaire and Drugovich as the Safety Car was deployed following a spin for Armstrong at Turn 3.
Once the race resumed on Lap 5, Pourchaire cleared Doohan at Turn 3 for fifth whilst Verschoor launched a charge, which saw the Dutchman carve his way through the top seven within three laps of the restart to claim the lead.
Those who began the race on wet tyres consequently pitted at the end of Lap 7 as Vesti, Iwasa, Sargeant and Williams leapfrogged Vips, as the Estonian re-joined in 16th after having led the pack into the pits.
Up front, Verschoor set searing pace ahead of Jehan Daruvala who was passed by Roberto Merhi on Lap 11 for second, with Daruvala pitting two laps later which gave him the undercut on Merhi who stopped a further lap later.
Sargeant meanwhile was on a charge as he cleared five cars and benefitted from those further ahead pitting, as he worked his way up to fourth by Lap 17, although he did bang wheels with Carlin teammate – Lawson as they fought for fourth into Turn 3.
Up front, Verschoor controlled the race with relative ease unchallenged as Vesti, Iwasa and Lawson were all hit with 5s time penalties for exceeding track limits.
Doohan meanwhile received a 15s time penalty in total for the same offence – consisting of 5s then 10s time penalties on Laps 24 and 27 respectively which enraged the Australian as he and others blasted stewards over team radio for inconsistencies in their stewarding.
Verschoor eventually cruised home to a dominant third F2 victory by 13.736s from Daruvala who had finished third on the road following a late pass from Merhi into Turn 4 on the penultimate, only for the Spaniard to receive a 5s time penalty for track limits.
Sargeant consequently benefitted from Merhi’s blunder to finish third ahead of Fittipaldi and Merhi, whilst Hauger, Hughes, Olli Caldwell, Iwasa and Vips rounded out the top ten following application of penalties.
For Trident, Verschoor’s win marked the first time since 2014 that the Italian team had won two races in a single second-tier season, having last done so with Johnny Cecotto Jr. eight years ago in Spain and coincidentally Austria.
Verschoor and Trident’s celebrations however didn’t last long as just 31.3 grams of fuel was obtained from the Dutchman’s fuel tank, which led to him being disqualified from the final classification.
Daruvala meanwhile was also denied victory as he was slapped with a drive through penalty converted into a 20s post-race penalty, after PREMA were found to have dried his grid slot pre-race illegally causing him to drop to 12th in the classification.
In the driver standings, Drugovich saw his title lead further reduced to 39 points as Sargeant with his victory leapfrogged Pourchaire into second, with the Frenchman now sat third but one point behind the American and 40 points behind Drugovich.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | 40 | 55m 44.500 |
| 2 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz | 40 | + 0.514 |
| 3 | Roberto Merhi | Campos | 40 | + 1.618 |
| 4 | Dennis Hauger | PREMA | 40 | + 5.999 |
| 5 | Jake Hughes | VAR | 40 | + 10.137 |
| 6 | Olli Caldwell | Campos | 40 | + 12.152 |
| 7 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 40 | + 13.145 |
| 8 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | 40 | + 13.872 |
| 9 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 40 | + 14.442 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | 40 | + 15.964 |
| 11 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 40 | + 19.006 |
| 12 | Jehan Daruvala | PREMA | 40 | + 19.635 |
| 13 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 40 | + 19.842 |
| 14 | Frederik Vesti | ART GP | 40 | + 26.760 |
| 15 | Calan Williams | Trident | 40 | + 28.949 |
| 16 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | 40 | + 32.056 |
| 17 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | 40 | + 58.606 |
| 18 | Amaury Cordeel | VAR | 39 | + 1 Lap |
| 19 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 39 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz | 3 | Damage |
| RET | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | 0 | Collision |
| DSQ | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 40 | Fuel |
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