 2021 Monza Race 1
| ||
|---|---|---|
 The Autodromo Nazionale Monza was unchanged for 2021. | ||
| Race Information | ||
| Date | 11 September 2021 | |
| No. | 106 (13 of 2021) | |
| Event | Formula 1 Heineken Gran Premio d'Italia 2021
| |
| Location | Autodromo Nazionale Monza Monza, Lombardy, Italy | |
| Format | 120 km / 45 min (Sprint Race) | |
| Lap length | 5.793 km (3.600 mi) | |
| Distance | 21 laps / 121.653 km (75.792 mi) | |
| Fastest Lap | ||
| Driver |  Théo Pourchaire
| |
| Team | ART Grand Prix
| |
| Time | 1:34.314 on lap 16 | |
| Race Result | ||
| First | Second | Third |
| Théo Pourchaire
|
 Guanyu Zhou
|
 Christian Lundgaard
|
| Winner Team | ART Grand Prix
| |
| Time | 39:12.495 | |
| Race Guide | ||
| Previous | Next | |
 2021 Silverstone Feature Race
|
2021 Monza Sprint Race 2
| |
The 2021 Monza Sprint Race 1, formally known as the 2021 Monza Formula 2 Race 1, was the thirteenth race of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Lombardy, Italy, on 11 September 2021.[1] The race, the first to be staged in two months due to F2's novel calendar format for 2021, would see Théo Pourchaire charge to victory although his performance was overshadowed somewhat by teammate Christian Lundgaard.[2]
Qualifying had seen Oscar Piastri sweep to his second pole position in a row for the Feature Race, while tenth place for David Beckmann handed the German racer pole for the Monza Sprint Race 1.[3] Pourchaire, meanwhile, would start from fourth place, with Jüri Vips and Dan Ticktum between him and Beckmann, while Lundgaard claimed a lowly nineteenth on the grid.[3]
After voicing concerns about holding the lead at the start, Beckmann would duly lose the lead immediately when the lights went out, unable to prevent Vips from storming past to claim the lead.[2] Behind, Ticktum would also eye up a lunge on the brakes at the #20 Campos but thought better of it to hold third from Pourchaire, with the rest of the field making it through the Rettifilo chicane without issue.[2]
Indeed, the field quickly settled during the opening lap, with no major incidents as the drivers tried to slipstream each other as early as possible.[2] Yet, that would end as soon as the second tour began, with Pourchaire firing down the inside of Ticktum into the Rettifilo, only for both to get out of shape on the brakes.[2]
Both had almighty twitches and took to the escape road, although Ticktum tried to rejoin immediately and was hit by Felipe Drugovich.[2] The #5 Carlin was spun around and stalled, triggering a Safety Car as Drugovich limped back to have a new front wing put on his car.[2]
At the restart Vips would maintain his lead ahead of Beckmann, with Pourchaire having to fend off Liam Lawson into the Rettifilo, who ultimately broke his front wing on the back of the #10 ART.[2] Lawson was forced to stop despite the fact he still seemed to have more pace that Pourchaire even with his damaged front wing, before being given a life-line when Drugovich spun into the gravel at Ascari.[2]
Drugovich's car was removed under the cover of Virtual Safety Car, with that intervention allowing Pourchaire to recover and get back on terms with Beckmann.[2] After the restart the #10 ART was crawling all over the back of the #20 Campos, and after a couple of laps the Frenchman's pressure would result in Beckmann sliding wide and letting him through.[2]
Pourchaire went off to hunt down Vips, although their brewing fight was halted by another SC intervention as Roy Nissany spun and stalled.[2] At the restart Pourchaire had more grip and got a better launch than Vips out of the final corner, and duly snatched the lead as soon as they crossed the start/finish line.[2]
With that the Frenchman was away, quickly building a lead as Vips fell into the sights of Guanyu Zhou, who had to work hard to finally break the #6 Carlin's resistance.[2] He ultimately forced his way past with three laps to go, leaving Vips to fall further down the field to a charging Lundgaard, who himself had Robert Shwartzman, Piastri and Lawson on his tail.[2]
Pourchaire, meanwhile, was on his own out front, and was able to cruise to the chequered flag to claim victory four seconds clear of Zhou, while Lundgaard's charge ended with the Dane in third ahead of Piastri.[2] Lawson was next up ahead of Shwartzman, the Russian racer serving a five second time penalty after the chequered flag, while Bent Viscaal and Vips rounded out the scorers.[2] Beckmann, meanwhile, would just hold onto his top ten status by finishing tenth, and hence earned himself pole position for the 2021 Monza Sprint Race 2.[2]
Background[]
After two months of silence the class of 2021 in Formula 2 would finally get to re-fire their engines, as the fifth round of the season finally came around.[1] Arriving at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Italy, to reunite with Formula One, the F2 field had seen some minor changes to entry list as a result of the break, as funding proved an issue for several drivers.[1]
Beckmann Bustle[]
David Beckmann had initially been the main victim of a funding issue during the enforced summer-break, with the German racer initially announcing that he would leave Charouz Racing System to focus on his family business.[4] His seat in the #14 Charouz was taken by Enzo Fittipaldi, who was promoted from the Czech squad's FIA Formula 3 Championship squad, with the Brazilian making his F2 debut at the Monza round.[4] However, fate would have a hand to play in Beckmann's F2 future, as another seat became available for the German racer.[5]
Indeed, Campos Racing would find themselves enquiring about Beckmann's services, after Matteo Nannini opted, for the second time in 2021, to focus on his FIA Formula 3 campaign over his F2 commitments.[5] Beckmann was hence drafted in to take over the #20 Campos seat, becoming the third driver to do so in 2021 after the aforementioned Nannini and the original pilot Gianluca Petecof.[6]
Hughes Hop[]
Elsewhere, there were changes afoot at HWA Racelab, who would also find themselves having to find a driver to occupy a seat previously held by Nannini.[7] The Brit would, however, be taking over from Nannini's replacement Jack Aitken, who had been ruled out for the rest of the season after the Anglo-Korean pilot's heavy accident at the Spa 24 Hours left him with a fractured collarbone and vertebra.[7] It was Hughes' second attempt at breaking into the F2 field, having made his F2 debut in the 2020 Sochi Feature Race.[7]
Silverstone Surges[]
Oscar Piastri had retained the lead in the Championship heading into the de facto summer break, the Australian racer having claimed 108 points in the first half of the campaign. Guanyu Zhou was his closest challenger in second, five off the lead at the halfway mark, while Robert Shwartzman was seventeen off the lead in third. Dan Ticktum and Jüri Vips completed the half-time top five, with nineteen of the twenty-three drivers to have entered a race in 2021 having scored in the first twelve races.
In the Teams' Championship Prema Racing hit halftime with 199 points to their credit, the Italian squad having secured three victories through Piastri and Shwartzman's efforts. UNI-Virtuosi were in second, having moved up from third at the Silverstone round, while Carlin were in third, 54 behind the leaders. Hitech Grand Prix were next up ahead of ART Grand Prix, while HWA Racelab had remained at the foot of the table with just one solitary point.
Entry List[]
The full entry list for the 2021 Monza Sprint Race 1 is displayed below:
- * Placeholder liveries are show for the second drivers in each team.
Grid[]
The grid for the first Sprint Race of the weekend was set by reversing the top ten results from qualifying for the Feature Race, as per-FIA Formula 2 Championship rules.[3]
| Pos. | Pos. | |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | Driver | |
| ______________ | ||
| Row 1 | 1 | ______________ |
| David Beckmann | 2 | |
| ______________ | Jüri Vips | |
| Row 2 | 3 | ______________ |
| Dan Ticktum | 4 | |
| ______________ | Théo Pourchaire | |
| Row 3 | 5 | ______________ |
| Ralph Boschung | 6 | |
| ______________ | Felipe Drugovich | |
| Row 4 | 7 | ______________ |
| Liam Lawson | 8 | |
| ______________ | Guanyu Zhou | |
| Row 5 | 9 | ______________ |
| Jehan Daruvala | 10 | |
| ______________ | Oscar Piastri | |
| Row 6 | 11 | ______________ |
| Lirim Zendeli | 12 | |
| ______________ | Robert Shwartzman | |
| Row 7 | 13 | ______________ |
| Enzo Fittipaldi | 14 | |
| ______________ | Marino Sato | |
| Row 8 | 15 | ______________ |
| Roy Nissany | 16 | |
| ______________ | Jake Hughes | |
| Row 9 | 17 | ______________ |
| Marcus Armstrong | 18 | |
| ______________ | Bent Viscaal | |
| Row 10 | 19 | ______________ |
| Christian Lundgaard | 20 | |
| ______________ | Richard Verschoor | |
| Row 11 | 21 | ______________ |
| Guilherme Samaia | 22 | |
| ______________ | Alessio Deledda |
Race[]
Report[]
Results[]
The final classification of the 2021 Monza Sprint Race 1 is displayed below:
| 2021 Monza Sprint Race 1 Race Result | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Laps | Race Time | Strat. | Fastest lap | Pts. |
| 1st | 10 | Théo Pourchaire
|
ART Grand Prix
|
21 | 39:12.495 | 
|
1:34.314 | 17 |
| 2nd | 3 | Guanyu Zhou
|
UNI-Virtuosi
|
21 | +4.360s |
|
1:34.627 | 12 |
| 3rd | 9 | Christian Lundgaard
|
ART Grand Prix
|
21 | +6.929s |
|
1:34.572 | 10 |
| 4th | 2 |  Oscar Piastri
|
Prema Racing
|
21 | +7.694s |
|
1:34.905 | 8 |
| 5th | 7 |  Liam Lawson
|
Hitech Grand Prix
|
21 | +9.767s |
|
1:35.078 | 6 |
| 6th | 1 |  Robert Shwartzman
|
Prema Racing
|
21 | +10.747s |
|
1:34.570 | 4 |
| 7th | 24 |  Bent Viscaal
|
Trident
|
21 | +11.504s |
|
1:35.333 | 2 |
| 8th | 8 |  Jüri Vips
|
Hitech Grand Prix
|
21 | +12.789s |
|
1:35.029 | 1 |
| 9th | 6 |  Jehan Daruvala
|
Carlin
|
21 | +13.168s |
|
1:34.966 | |
| 10th | 20 |  David Beckmann
|
 Campos Racing
|
21 | +15.232s |
|
1:34.759 | |
| 11th | 17 | Marcus Armstrong
|
DAMS
|
21 | +15.646s |
|
1:35.124 | |
| 12th | 22 | Jake Hughes
|
HWA Racelab
|
21 | +18.840s |
|
1:35.444 | |
| 13th | 23 | Alessio Deledda
|
HWA Racelab
|
21 | +20.397s |
|
1:36.245 | |
| 14th | 21 |  Ralph Boschung
|
Campos Racing
|
20 | +1 Lap |
|
1:35.452 | |
| 15th* | 12 | Lirim Zendeli
|
MP Motorsport
|
18 | Engine |
|
1:34.954 | |
| NC† | 25 |  Marino Sato
|
Trident
|
16 | +5 Laps |
|
1:35.098 | |
| Ret | 11 | Richard Verschoor
|
MP Motorsport
|
10 | Retired |
|
1:35.468 | |
| Ret | 16 |  Roy Nissany
|
DAMS
|
9 | Spin |
|
1:34.762 | |
| Ret | 15 |  Guilherme Samaia
|
 Charouz Racing System
|
8 | Retired |
|
1:36.674 | |
| Ret | 4 | Felipe Drugovich
|
UNI-Virtuosi
|
4 | Accident |
|
1:56.672 | |
| Ret | 14 | Enzo Fittipaldi
|
Charouz Racing System
|
2 | Gearbox |
|
— | |
| Ret | 5 | Dan Ticktum
|
Carlin
|
1 | Collision |
|
— | |
| Source:[9] | ||||||||
- Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
- Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
- * Zendeli was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 90% of the race distance.[9]
- † Sato, however, was unable to be classified as he failed to complete 90% of the race distance, despite taking the chequered flag.[9]
Milestones[]
- Debut race for Enzo Fittipaldi.
- First race for Jake Hughes since the 2020 Sochi Sprint Race.
- Théo Pourchaire claimed his second victory.
- Eighteenth win for ART Grand Prix.
Standings[]
Oscar Piastri remained at the head of the Championship after the opening battle of Monza, although the Australian rookie's lead had all but evaporated in the process. Indeed, Guanyu Zhou had reduced the gap to just a single point after his podium finish, while Robert Shwartzman had lost ground in third, slipping 21 points behind his teammate. Dan Ticktum was next up ahead of Jüri Vips, while Théo Pourchaire had closed up to the lead group after his second win of the campaign.
In the Teams' Championship Prema Racing had maintained their lead at the head of table, the Italian squad having moved onto 211 points in the first of their home races. Second placed UNI-Virtuosi had matched Prema's efforts in the first battle of Monza to keep pace, while Hitech Grand Prix had climbed to third as the morning's only movers. Carlin and ART Grand Prix then completed the top five, the latter having become the latest squad to break into triple digits.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Only point scoring drivers are shown.
References[]
Images and Videos:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 'FIA Formula 2 Championship 2021 season provisional calendar announced', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 10/11/2020), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/1lFF2lrhzJbOeFTnd2hPE4/fia-formula-2-championship-2021-season-provisional-calendar-announced, (Accessed 11/11/2020)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 'SPRINT RACE 1: Pourchaire wins for the second time in action-packed Monza opener', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 11/09/2021), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/46EwTgZFh2lbqDUuZkIg5v/sprint-race-1-pourchaire-wins-for-the-second-time-in-action-packed-monza, (Accessed 30/03/2022)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 'QUALIFYING: Piastri beats Daruvala to Monza pole with title rival Zhou in third', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 10/09/2021), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/1x8RkSZkhqbM97N3y2vLUZ/qualifying-piastri-takes-pole-at-monza, (Accessed 30/03/2022)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ida Wood, 'Enzo Fittipaldi to make F2 debut with Charouz, replaces Beckmann', formulascout.com, (Formula Scout, 01/09/2021), https://formulascout.com/enzo-fittipaldi-to-make-f2-debut-at-charouz-replaces-beckmann/83070, (Accessed 27/03/2022)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 'Beckmann replaces Nannini at Campos for Round 5 at Monza', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 08/09/2021), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/4iZ5slxJSSL1jqWVJqQzFn/beckmann-replaces-nannini-at-campos-for-round-5-at-monza, (Accessed 30/03/2022)
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBec21A - ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 'Hughes joins HWA RACELAB for Round 5 at Monza', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 07/09/2021), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/5ByQEFXtPJ3I1wFtv0dpRC/hughes-joins-hwa-racelab-for-round-6-at-monza, (Accessed 30/03/2021)
- ↑ Archived, 'Teams and Drivers', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 2021), https://web.archive.org/web/20210816222954/https://www.fiaformula2.com/Teams-and-Drivers, (Accessed 27/03/2022) - Original
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedResults