2022 F2 Season Roundup: Round 14 – Abu Dhabi

Roundup of the final round of 2022 F2 season as the battle for second went to the wire in Abu Dhabi.

Despite the title having been decided in Italy over two months ago, there was still a lot to settle as Theo Pourchaire chased the Vice-Champion honour, whilst Logan Sargeant looked to secure a top-six championship finish to seal a promotion to F1 and earn his FIA Super License.

MP Motorsport, ART GP and Carlin meanwhile all entered this round scrapping for the teams’ title which meant that there was a lot still left to be sorted in the desert.

Now, here is a full roundup of all the action of the 2022 F2 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

 

Practice

Campos’ Ralph Boschung and Olli Caldwell were first out on track with the former setting the initial benchmark time of 1m 59.435, which was quickly beaten by several drivers as Marcus Armstrong posted 1m 53.130 to go fastest.

Times soon began to tumble as Armstrong lowered his benchmark time in the 10th minute to 1m 38.987 ahead of Theo Pourchaire, who responded four minutes later but Armstrong posted 1m 38.469 in response to stay top.

DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa meanwhile slotted into second in the 15th minute but found further time on his next lap to go top with 1m 38.168, albeit 0.301 seconds quicker than Armstrong who sat second behind the Japanese driver at the halfway mark of the session.

Nobody eventually could better Iwasa’s effort as Pourchaire, Jack Doohan, Logan Sargeant and Liam Lawson bettered Armstrong’s lap time, before Boschung spun in the 34th minute at Turn 13 to cause a red flag for nine minutes.

The session resumed with little improvements in lap time as Sargeant spun at Turn 9 on his final flying lap and stalled the car.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	1m 38.168
2	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	+ 0.055
3	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	+ 0.068
4	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	+ 0.129
5	Liam Lawson	Carlin	+ 0.204
6	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	+ 0.249
7	Marcus Armstrong	Hitech GP	+ 0.301
8	Juri Vips	Hitech GP	+ 0.322
9	Frederik Vesti	ART GP	+ 0.441
10	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	+ 0.444
11	Roy Nissany	DAMS	+ 0.597
12	Marino Sato	Virtuosi	+ 0.598
13	Amaury Cordeel	VAR	+ 0.605
14	Juan Manuel Correa	VAR	+ 0.627
15	Dennis Hauger	PREMA	+ 0.727
16	Jehan Daruvala	PREMA	+ 0.887
17	Richard Verschoor	Trident	+ 0.968
18	Ralph Boschung	Campos	+ 1.181
19	Olli Caldwell	Campos	+ 1.186
20	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz	+ 1.225
21	Zane Maloney	Trident	+ 1.767
22	Tatiana Calderon	Charouz	+ 2.108

 

Qualifying

After his spin in Practice, Boschung was first out on track for Qualifying but it was Doohan with 1m 36.677 who set the initial pace from Pourchaire and Juri Vips, as the red flag came out in the seventh minute after Virtuosi’s Marino Sato spun into the barriers at Turn 13.

The session resumed six minutes later with Boschung again straight out onto the circuit but nobody could better Doohan’s initial lap as Pourchaire and Jehan Daruvala found themselves rounding out the top three at the halfway mark of the session after second part of opening runs were completed.

Boschung then was the first to trigger the start of the final runs which saw Felipe Drugovich go top with 1m 36.546 with five minutes left, only for Pourchaire to go fastest by 0.174s as Sargeant improved to second.

Iwasa though left it to the checkered flag as he unexpectedly delivered 1m 36.290 to snatch his second pole position in his rookie F2 season, with Roy Nissany joining him on the front row in a DAMS lock-out albeit 0.036s slower than his teammate.

Pourchaire and Drugovich qualified third and fourth respectively ahead of; Doohan, Sargeant, Dennis Hauger, Amaury Cordeel, Liam Lawson and Richard Verschoor, who inherited reverse-pole for the Sprint Race.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	1m 36.290
2	Roy Nissany	DAMS	+ 0.036
3	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	+ 0.082
4	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	+ 0.192
5	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	+ 0.220
6	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	+ 0.224
7	Dennis Hauger	PREMA	+ 0.260
8	Amaury Cordeel	VAR	+ 0.288
9	Liam Lawson	Carlin	+ 0.298
10	Richard Verschoor	Trident	+ 0.298
11	Marcus Armstrong	Hitech GP	+ 0.329
12	Jehan Daruvala	PREMA	+ 0.340
13	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz	+ 0.390
14	Ralph Boschung	Campos	+ 0.395
15	Juri Vips	Hitech GP	+ 0.504
16	Frederik Vesti	ART GP	+ 0.733
17	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	+ 0.755
18	Juan Manuel Correa	VAR	+ 0.794
19	Zane Maloney	Trident	+ 0.810
20	Olli Caldwell	Campos	+ 0.918
21	Tatiana Calderon	Charouz	+ 1.538
22	Marino Sato	Virtuosi	+ 23.459

 

Sprint Race

At lights out, Verschoor comfortably led from Lawson, Cordeel and Hauger but Daruvala and Enzo Fittipaldi collided through Turns 2 and 3, with both cars heavily hitting the barriers which triggered a red flag later that lap.

Following a post-race investigation, neither driver was found to be at total fault for the collision, which was ultimately declared a racing incident.

Sargeant meanwhile had lost four positions on the opening lap to fall from fifth to ninth behind Drugovich, Pourchaire, Nissany and Doohan but stewards rearranged the order based on timing of red flag and switched Sargeant around with Pourchaire who held sixth.

Following a 33 minute delay, the race resumed behind the Safety Car with Verschoor comfortably leading the restart from Lawson, who relentlessly maintained the pressure up front until he made a late-braking inside move at Turn 6 to snatch the lead and ultimately victory.

Verschoor settled for second as everyone managed their tyres but Cordeel and Hauger soon began to struggle, whereas Drugovich had managed his tyres and passed Hauger on Lap 17 before clearing Cordeel three laps later for third.

Hauger then cleared Cordeel on the penultimate lap but ran wide at Turn 6 and re-joined just ahead of a tight chasing pack, yet managed to allow just Cordeel back through at Turn 12 before successfully making a crucial pass at Turn 9 on the final lap to snatch fourth.

Sargeant meanwhile fought off Doohan and Nissany as the trio rounded out the top eight finishers.

In the drivers’ standings, Drugovich is already champion but Pourchaire needed to finish tenth at minimum to secure the vice-champion honour, ahead of Sargeant who had to win and take the point for fastest lap plus hope Pourchaire was outside of top ten if he is to finish second.

Sargeant though also needed to finish in the top six in the driver standings in order to secure his FIA Super License, which would seal a promotion to F1 with Williams.

MP Motorsport meanwhile opened a six point lead over ART GP in the teams’ championship with Carlin a further 15 points behind in third, which meant a three-team title decider in the season finale.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Liam Lawson	Carlin	23	1h 11m 53.868
2	Richard Verschoor	Trident	23	+ 7.943
3	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	23	+ 8.803
4	Dennis Hauger	PREMA	23	+ 14.937
5	Amaury Cordeel	VAR	23	+ 15.449
6	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	23	+ 15.938
7	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	23	+ 16.501
8	Roy Nissany	DAMS	23	+ 17.313
9	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	23	+ 17.579
10	Marcus Armstrong	Hitech GP	23	+ 17.968
11	Frederik Vesti	ART GP	23	+ 19.213
12	Juri Vips	Hitech GP	23	+ 22.031
13	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	23	+ 24.162
14	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	23	+ 27.095
15	Zane Maloney	Trident	23	+ 33.860
16	Olli Caldwell	Campos	23	+ 34.034
17	Ralph Boschung	Campos	23	+ 36.430
18	Juan Manuel Correa	VAR	23	+ 38.164
19	Marino Sato	Virtuosi	23	+ 58.710
20	Tatiana Calderon	Charouz	23	+ 74.890
RET	Jehan Daruvala	PREMA	0	Collision
RET	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz	0	Collision

 

Feature Race

At lights out, Iwasa was beaten off the line by Nissany but quickly swept round the outside of the opening three corners to reclaim his lead, as Drugovich improved to third ahead of Hauger who got a lightning start to rise from seventh to fourth.

Further behind in the pack, Boschung was spun out from behind by Juan Manuel Correa at Turn 9 on the Ecudorian-American’s return to F2, following his accident at Spa Francorchamps in 2019.

The Virtual Safety Car (VSC) consequently was deployed and upon its withdrawal on Lap 3, Pourchaire cleared Hauger into Turn 9 for fourth whilst Iwasa held up Nissany and Drugovich with tyre management.

Nissany’s soft tyres soon went off and Drugovich plus Pourchaire were soon able to pass the Israelian driver on Laps 7 & 8 respectively, whilst Iwasa pitted from the lead at the end of that latter lap with Pourchaire following suit and Drugovich made his stop one lap later.

Lawson meanwhile pitted at the end of Lap 7 alongside Hauger and jumped his Red Bull junior rival in the pit-stops, which left the Sprint Race winner sat a net third once everyone on the soft tyres made their stops.

Up front, Doohan led the medium-tyre race starters until he pitted on Lap 26 but upon exiting the pit-lane in fifth place, his front-left soft tyre flew off and across the track, which cost him a shot at victory and caused a VSC to remove his missing soft tyre from the circuit as it evaded several drivers.

Up front, Iwasa resumed the lead on Lap 26 but struggled to manage his tyres as Drugovich reeled him in, which led to a tense scrap which Iwasa was lucky to emerge from with his second win, having punted Drugovich wide over the kerbs on exit of Turn 9 on the final lap.

Stewards however deemed that an investigation wasn’t necessary which meant that Iwasa won from Drugovich and Lawson.

Pourchaire had looked set to finish fourth but hit mechanical issues on Lap 30 which prematurely ended his race, although he had done enough to secure the vice-champion honour in second place in the drivers’ standings.

Hauger therefore benefitted from Pourchaire’s misfortune to finish fourth ahead of Sargeant, Cordeel, Verschoor, Vips, Armstrong and Nissany who rounded out the top ten.

In the drivers standings, Drugovich finished the season as champion ahead of Pourchaire whilst Lawson snatched third from his Carlin teammate, Sargeant who finished fourth and will consequently graduate to F1 with Williams next season.

Iwasa’s victory meant that he rounds out the top five ahead of Doohan, Daruvala, Fittipaldi, Vesti and Hauger.

MP Motorsport meanwhile were confirmed as team champions ahead of Carlin by eight points, as the British team benefitted from a poor performance for Vesti and Pourchaire to snatch second ahead of the French outfit.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	33	57m 02.908
2	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	33	+ 0.830
3	Liam Lawson	Carlin	33	+ 1.348
4	Dennis Hauger	PREMA	33	+ 13.440
5	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	33	+ 14.064
6	Amaury Cordeel	VAR	33	+ 15.719
7	Richard Verschoor	Trident	33	+ 18.162
8	Juri Vips	Hitech GP	33	+ 20.279
9	Marcus Armstrong	Hitech GP	33	+ 20.684
10	Roy Nissany	DAMS	33	+ 22.181
11	Frederik Vesti	ART GP	33	+ 22.732
12	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	33	+ 23.489
13	Jehan Daruvala	PREMA	33	+ 24.298
14	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz	33	+ 27.616
15	Marino Sato	Virtuosi	33	+ 28.246
16	Zane Maloney	Trident	33	+ 31.754
17	Juan Manuel Correa	VAR	33	+ 32.446
18	Tatiana Calderon	Charouz	33	+ 45.116
19	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	31	+ 2 Laps
RET	Olli Caldwell	Campos	29	Mechnical
RET	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	25	Wheel
RET	Ralph Boschung	Campos	0	Collision