The Formula 2 season concludes with an exciting race in which Oscar Piastri converted his pole to get his fourth consecutive Feature Race win. His rival and fellow Alpine Academy driver Guanyu Zhou finished second. Zhou’s UNI-Virtuosi teammate Felipe Drugovich was on the final step of the podium thanks to a strong performance on the alternate strategy.
By Tyler Foster
Piastri and Zhou were front-runners for the whole race; after starting on the softer compound tyre, they pitted early. Jack Doohan started second in just his second weekend in Formula 2 but started on the mediums and was under threat on the first lap from Zhou when he lost control of his car and ended up in the barriers. After all those on the medium tyres pitted, both Piastri and Zhou retook their positions at the front of the field. However, Drugovich, who started in eight position, made good on his medium tyres and pitted late to have the advantage on the supersoft tyres. On the other hand, Robert Shwartzman, who started in fourth, struggled towards the end of the race with overheated rears and was swamped by both Drugovich and Théo Pourchaire.
Ultimately it was another showing of pure class from the man who has dominated this year’s Formula 2 Championship, Oscar Piastri.
“The final race of F2 for the year is done and we managed to win the race, which is fantastic. It is a great way to end the year and a great way to end my junior career.”
“Thank you to everyone for your support and for all of your messages after winning the Championship. I have still got thousands unopened. It was very good to end the season on a high, I’ll hopefully see you at some point on a grid in the future.”
While both Piastri and Zhou have their differing roles with F1 teams for the 2022 season, UNI-Virtuosi’s Brazilian driver Felipe Drugovich has struggled in comparison in his second F2 season. Speaking to F1 Feeder Series after the race, we asked him what his plans were for next season and what he made of a somewhat underwhelming year compared to his F1-bound teammate.
“For next year I will be in F2 but the team is going to be announced next week, so I can’t say that now. Hopefully next year I can maximise a little bit more my potential because this year I was actually very far away from what I’m capable of. It is what it is, but we are just going to focus on next year.”
While the season is now over, a new Formula 2 grid will take to the Yas Marina Circuit for post-season testing between December 16th and 18th. So far, only three drivers are confirmed for the 2022 Formula 2 season: Clément Novalak for MP Motorsport, Ralph Boschung for Campos and Logan Sargeant for Carlin, so plenty is up for grabs. The newly revised calendar and schedule has the 2022 F2 season set to start in Bahrain on 19th March.
Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency
Feeder Series 