Roundup of a dramatic fifth round of 2023 F2 season in Monaco, which saw the title lead change hands across the weekend.
Just seven points split the top three drivers coming into this round but Monaco is known for its twisty and unpredictable nature, which didn’t disappoint as the title lead changed hands across the weekend.
Now, here is a full roundup of all the F2 action in Monaco.
Practice
With the track fully dry by the start of Practice, teams were able to run slick tyres across the session as Campos’ Ralph Boschung set the early benchmark time of 1m 26.887 in the ninth minute.
PREMA’s Frederik Vesti however managed to swiftly go fastest with 1m 26.529 just seconds later, but MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger went 0.282 seconds quicker less than a minute later.
The red flag however was quickly out in the 10th minute after Boschung and Trident’s Roman Stanek collided at Anthony Noghes, of which stewards adjudged Stanek at fault for not leaving rooom as he backed off whilst Boschung dived up the inside of the tight right-hand corner.
Five minutes later, the session resumed and Hauger went top with 1m 25.340 in the 18th minute but Vesti responded with 1m 25.164 to go fastest a minute later, only for Jehan Daruvala to go 0.652s faster just seconds later.
Hauger responded in the 21st minute with 1m 23.692 but Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan immediately displaced him by 0.076s to go top, as the Aussie headed Hauger and Ayumu Iwasa at the halfway mark of the session.
PREMA’s Oliver Bearman meanwhile crashed at Portier in the 23rd minute which brought out the red flags again, although the session quickly resumed five minutes later as the rookie was handed a tough debut experience of the world-famous street circuit.
At the top, Hauger posted 1m 23.139 in the 34th minute to go quickest but Martins went 0.094s quicker a minute later, yet times soon began to tumble as Hauger posted 1m 22.569 in the 37th minute to regain top spot but Martins hit back to go 0.280s quicker just under a minute later.
Martins lowered his benchmark time with four minutes left with 1m 22.127 but Iwasa left it until the penultimate minute to top the session, having produced a 1m 22.081 to snatch the fastest lap just before Richard Verschoor crashed at Portier.
The session consequently was red flagged for a third time but this time wasn’t resumed.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 1m 22.127 |
| 2 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.046 |
| 3 | Richard Verschoor | VAR | + 0.173 |
| 4 | Arthur Leclerc | DAMS | + 0.326 |
| 5 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | + 0.488 |
| 6 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin | + 0.510 |
| 7 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | + 0.569 |
| 8 | Kush Maini | Campos | + 0.630 |
| 9 | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | + 0.649 |
| 10 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.929 |
| 11 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport | + 1.055 |
| 12 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | + 1.108 |
| 13 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | + 1.122 |
| 14 | Clement Novalak | Trident | + 1.203 |
| 15 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing | + 1.475 |
| 16 | Juan Manuel Correa | VAR | + 1.503 |
| 17 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | + 1.539 |
| 18 | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi | + 1.823 |
| 19 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing | + 2.473 |
| 20 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 3.183 |
| 21 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 4.806 |
| 22 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 17.536 |
Qualifying
Qualifying Group A
Daruvala was first out on track and proceeded to set the initial benchmark lap time of 1m 23.671 but several drivers bettered his time, as Martins posted 1m 22.244 to head Hadjar upon completion of the first set of flying laps.
Leclerc however caused a red flag just over ten minutes into the session after he lost control out of Anthony Noghes and hit the inside barrier, which caused huge damage to the front of his DAMS car.
Verschoor, Maini and Daruvala though had all improved and occupied the top three spots as the red flag came out, with Verschoor on provisional pole with 1m 21.639 ahead of Maini.
The session resumed six minutes later and Doohan on his first flier of the second stint went top with 1m 21.432, but Martins produced 1m 21.231 to snatch provisional pole ahead of Doohan and Verschoor.
Daruvala meanwhile finished fourth but caused a second red flag with 16 seconds left on the clock, having locked up at Mirabeau and broke his front-left suspension.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 1m 21.231 |
| 2 | Jack Dooham | Virtuosi | + 0.201 |
| 3 | Richard Verschoor | VAR | + 0.408 |
| 4 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport | + 0.411 |
| 5 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | + 0.414 |
| 6 | Kush Maini | Campos | + 0.589 |
| 7 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin | + 0.593 |
| 8 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 0.970 |
| 9 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing | + 1.573 |
| 10 | Arthur Leclerc | DAMS | + 2.109 |
| 11 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 3.369 |
Qualifying Group B
Hauger was first out on track in Group B and following two warm-up laps, the Norwegian set the initial benchmark lap time of 1m 31.284 after he backed off in the final sector, although he then posted 1m 22.979 on his next lap.
Manuel Correa, Iwasa, Maloney and Vesti however bettered Hauger’s effort as Pourchaire posted 1m 21.630 to go fastest with eight minutes left on the clock.
Vesti however went fastest with 1m 21.494 in the 10th minute but was swiftly beaten by Pourchaire who posted 1m 21.354 to go top from Maloney, as the Barbados driver settled into second but 0.109s behind the Frenchman.
Following a cool-down lap, Vesti immediately responded on his next flying lap with 1m 21.053 to secure pole position would go to the winner of Group B, regardless of what happened in the final two minutes of the session.
Novalak however ensured that nobody could improve after he crashed at Portier with 14 seconds left, which ensured Vesti claimed pole for Monaco with Martins alongside him on the front row, whilst the Dane also cut his title deficit to Pourchaire to just one point.
Everyone else in Group B were subsequently put in the odd-numbered grid slots whilst those in Group A occupied the even-numbered grid slots which meant Hadjar claimed reverse-pole for the Sprint Race.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | 1m 21.053 |
| 2 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.052 |
| 3 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | + 0. 410 |
| 4 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | + 0.523 |
| 5 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 0.743 |
| 6 | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi | + 0.756 |
| 7 | Juan Manuel Correa | VAR | + 0.782 |
| 8 | Clement Novalak | Trident | + 1.035 |
| 9 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | + 1.044 |
| 10 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 1.129 |
| 11 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing | + 1.668 |
Sprint Race
At lights out, Hadjar made a clean start ahead of Iwasa and Daruvala but further behind the leading pack, Novalak spun Maini at the Nouvelle Chicane, which caused chaos as Nissany, Hauger, Leclerc and Boschung were forced to grind to a halt.
Only Maini, Hauger and Leclerc were able to continue after managing to gather their clutch in time to control their engines unlike Nissany and Boschung, who were consequently eliminated on the spot due to having lost the engine.
Stewards consequently deployed the VSC before the Safety Car came out on Lap 2 for four laps, with Hadjar leading the restart at end of Lap 5 but his Hitech GP car slowed down across the line with a mechanical issue which forced him to crawl back to the pits on Lap 6.
Iwasa therefore inherited the lead whilst Bearman had improved to 14th on the initial start and took Benavides for 13th on the restart, as the Brit looked to mount an unlikely comeback after qualifying 16th on the grid for both races.
Novalak meanwhile was hit with a 15 second time penalty of which 10 seconds were for spinning Maini, whilst a five-second time penalty was handed out for speeding in the pits on Lap 2.
Up front, Iwasa calmly controlled the race ahead of Daruvala, Crawford, Verschoor, Maloney, Doohan, Martins, Pourchaire and Vesti, whilst Cordeel clung onto 10th position until Fittipaldi passed him into St Devote on Lap 22.
The Belgian’s race subsequently ended at Mirabeau on that very lap after he was punted into the barriers by Manuel Correa, who was handed a 10s time penalty for causing their collision as the Safety Car again was deployed.
Upon the race’s resumption at end of Lap 24, Bearman was forced to pit with a bent steering column after he hit the wall, having been forced into evasive action on the restart.
Iwasa eventually cruised to victory by 6.678s from Daruvala as Crawford rounded out the podium, whilst Verschoor, Maloney, Doohan, Martins and Pourchaire rounded out the top eight finishers.
In the drivers’ standings, Iwasa’s win lifted him into the lead with 68 points and ahead of Pourchaire by just two points, with Vesti a further two points behind in third.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 30 | 46m 39.033 |
| 2 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport | 30 | + 6.678 |
| 3 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | 30 | + 8.335 |
| 4 | Richard Verschoor | VAR | 30 | + 8.820 |
| 5 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | 30 | + 10.978 |
| 6 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 30 | + 14.635 |
| 7 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 30 | + 15.389 |
| 8 | Theo Pourchaire | Theo Pourchaire | 30 | + 17.369 |
| 9 | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | 30 | + 18.411 |
| 10 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin | 30 | + 18.801 |
| 11 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing | 30 | + 20.541 |
| 12 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 30 | + 21.352 |
| 13 | Kush Maini | Campos | 30 | + 22.395 |
| 14 | Arthur Leclerc | DAMS | 30 | + 22.962 |
| 15 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 30 | + 25.049 |
| 16 | Juan Manuel Correa | VAR | 30 | + 29.303 |
| 17 | Clement Novalak | Trident | 30 | + 38.434 |
| RET | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 23 | Steering |
| RET | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi | 21 | Collision |
| RET | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | 5 | Mechanical |
| RET | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing | 0 | Spin |
| RET | Ralph Boschuung | Campos | 0 | Crash |
Feature Race
The formation lap was delayed five minutes with half of the grid opting for the super-soft tyres in the opening stint, whilst the top six all opted to start on the soft tyre rather than the prime strategy of super-soft tyres in an unusual move.
Once the race finally commenced, Vesti made a clean start to lead Martins who initially kept the Dane under pressure before opting to focus on tyre management.
Bearman meanwhile improved from 16th on the grid to 12th by the end of the opening lap having passed two cars on the start, before getting past Novalak and Cordeel at the Hairpin and Tabac corners respectively.
Novalak and Boschung were the first drivers on the super-soft to soft tyre strategy to pit at end of Lap 7 – with several drivers following suit in the next seven laps.
Bearman was the last driver who started on the super-softs to pit at the end of Lap 14, having worked his way up to seventh and rejoined in 11th position but lost position to Iwasa who was forced to make a move on the inside into Mirabeau on warmer tyres.
Fittipaldi meanwhile was running 16th on Lap 18 when his engine failed which forced him to park up down the escape road at Nouvelle chicane, whilst the VSC was deployed until the start of Lap 21 whilst his car was safely removed from the escape road.
Up front, Vesti continued to control the race but the red flag came out on Lap 24 due to barrier damage after Doohan crashed on the inside of Massenet two laps earlier, due to a front wing failure with the resulting impact with barriers causing his car to leak fluid and catch ablaze.
The six frontrunners all pitted on Lap 23 under the Safety Car with Vesti retaining his lead from Vesti, as Pourchaire encountered a rear-jack issue during his stop but stayed third whilst Hauger served a five-second time penalty during his stop for leaving the track on Lap 1.
The session resumed 23 minutes later behind the Safety Car which pitted at the end of Lap 26, with Vesti heading Martins who received a drive-through penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags.
Martins subsequently served the penalty at the end of Lap 30 and rejoined in eighth position, as Vesti sprinted to his first Monaco victory ahead of Pourchaire, Maloney, Verschoor, Hauger, Maini and Stanek.
Crawford and Iwasa meanwhile completed the top ten just ahead of Bearman who missed out on the final points-paying position.
In the drivers’ standings, Vesti’s victory saw him become the Championship leader on 89 points with a five-point lead over Pourchaire, as Iwasa slipped to third whilst Maini, Hauger, Maloney and Verschoor leapfrogged Bearman who dropped to eighth place.
F2 now heads to Barcelona, Spain for the fifth round of this season across weekend of 2-4 June.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | 39 | 1h 20m 02.426 |
| 2 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 39 | + 2.504 |
| 3 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | 39 | + 15.553 |
| 4 | Richard Verschoor | VAR | 39 | + 21.623 |
| 5 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 39 | + 22.364 |
| 6 | Kush Maini | Campos | 39 | + 25.317 |
| 7 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 39 | + 27.368 |
| 8 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 39 | + 27.653 |
| 9 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | 39 | + 42.084 |
| 10 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 39 | + 44.372 |
| 11 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 39 | + 45.253 |
| 12 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | 39 | + 46.049 |
| 13 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport | 39 | + 54.559 |
| 14 | Juan Manuel Correa | VAR | 39 | + 57.642 |
| 15 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing | 39 | + 72.052 |
| 16 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing | 39 | + 72.410 |
| 17 | Clement Novalak | Trident | 39 | + 72.842 |
| RET | Ralph Boschung | Campos | 32 | Mechanical |
| RET | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 21 | Spin |
| RET | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi | 21 | + 18 Laps |
| RET | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin | 17 | Engine |
| RET | Arthur Leclerc | DAMS | 8 | Brakes |
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