Marcus Armstrong has taken his first win of the 2022 Formula 2 season with a victory off the line in the Imola sprint race.
The action started before cars had made the grid, with Roy Nissany having a moment into Acque Minerali, before Amaury Cordeel completely lost it and hit the barriers, damaging his rear left tyre and ending his race before it had started.Logan Sargeant had taken partially-reversed-grid pole but was beaten off the line by Armstrong and then relegated to fifth quickly over the first few corners. Armstrong was able to pull ahead despite a strong challenge from Roy Nissany, who had roared up from fifth.
David Beckmann was crashed out on the first lap, following contact with Clement Novalak, prompting a Safety Car before the lead cars had reached the Rivazzas.
The Safety Car was called in at the end of lap four and Armstrong led the field away into lap five, while Jehan Daruvala and Dennis Hauger battled for second and third behind him.
A Virtual Safety Car was called on lap ten when Ralph Boschung suffered a mechanical failure and retired from the race, marshals pushing his Campos away. He had been running in sixth at the time, having started seventh.
An intense, three-way battle between Nissany, Logan Sargeant and Felipe Drugovich for fourth saw Nissany manage to hold on despite a constant challenge from Sargeant on the restart.
By lap 14 Daruvala was in DRS range of Armstrong and setting faster laps but the Hitech driver was able to defend the lead and by a few laps later seemed to have won the tyre management battle. On lap 20 Armstrong had a second’s worth of advantage over Daruvala and was able to hold that.
Ferderik Vesti was putting Jack Doohan under serious pressure for tenth place by lap 19 and managed to make a move stick into Acque Minerali, taking the position.
Despite carrying a visibly loose piece of bodywork, Hauger managed to hold on to third despite Nissany chasing him down on the final lap.
Armstrong passed the chequered flag first, Daruvala following him a second behind and Hauger completing the podium. Nissany, championship leader Drugovich, Sargeant, Theo Pourchaire and Liam Lawson rounding out the points positions.
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Formula 2 Italy race one results
| Position | Car | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Marcus Armstrong |
| 2 | 2 | Jehan Daruvala |
| 3 | 1 | Dennis Hauger |
| 4 | 16 | Roy Nissany |
| 5 | 11 | Felipe Drugovich |
| 6 | 6 | Logan Sargeant |
| 7 | 10 | Theo Pourchaire |
| 8 | 5 | Liam Lawson |
| 9 | 17 | Ayumu Iwasa |
| 10 | 9 | Frederik Vesti |
| 11 | 3 | Jack Doohan |
| 12 | 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi |
| 13 | 20 | Richard Verschoor |
| 14 | 21 | Calan Williams |
| 15 | 8 | Juri Vips |
| 16 | 4 | Marino Sato |
| 17 | 14 | Olli Caldwell |
| 18 | 24 | Jake Hughes |
| 19 | 12 | Clement Novalak |
| DNF | 15 | Ralph Boschung |
| DNF | 23 | David Beckmann |
| DNS | 25 | Amaury Cordeel |
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wsrgo (@wsrgo)
23rd April 2022, 18:03
Any idea what happened to Vips, Hazel? I missed the replay of the start.
DRS noticeably weaker in F2 cars than F1, which made the few overtakes we saw better, but at the same time it looked a tad processional at times, especially compared to F3. I still don’t know what ‘better racing’ means. More overtakes? Less but better overtakes?