 2022 Zandvoort Formula 2 Race 1
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| File:Circuit Zandvoort 2022.png The Circuit Zandvoort finally made its F2 debut in 2022. | ||
| Race Information | ||
| Date | 3 September 2022 | |
| No. | 138 (23 of 2022) | |
| Event | Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2022
| |
| Location | Circuit Zandvoort Zandvoort, North Holland, Netherlands | |
| Format | 120 km / 45 min (Sprint Race) | |
| Lap length | 4.259 km (2.646 miles) | |
| Distance | 29 laps / 123.450 km (76.708 mi) | |
| Fastest Lap | ||
| Driver |  Felipe Drugovich
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| Team | MP Motorsport
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| Time | 1:25.808 on lap 25 | |
| Race Result | ||
| First | Second | Third |
 Marcus Armstrong
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 Clément Novalak
|
 Dennis Hauger
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| Winner Team |  Hitech Grand Prix
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| Time | 43:42.549 | |
| Race Guide | ||
| Previous | Next | |
 2022 Spa Feature Race
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2022 Zandvoort Feature Race
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The 2022 Zandvoort Sprint Race, officially known as the 2022 Zandvoort Formula 2 Race 1, was the twenty-third race of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Circuit Zandvoort in Zandvoort, North Holland, Netherlands, on 3 September 2022 in support of the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2022.[1] The race would be the first around the Dutch circuit for the modern incarnation of F2, after the original attempt to use the circuit in 2020 was abandoned due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.[1]
The grid for the Zandvoort Sprint was based on the results of qualifying for the Feature Race, and would see Clément Novalak claim pole after being classified in tenth during Friday's running.[2] He would share the front row with Marcus Armstrong, while his teammate and Championship leader Felipe Drugovich would start from tenth after claiming pole for the Feature Race, six places clear of closest challenger Théo Pourchaire.[2]
The start of the race saw Novalak make a good initial getaway, although wheel spin as he changed to second allowed Armstrong to draw alongside, and with the inside line into Tarzan the #7 Hitech would sweep into the lead ahead of the #12 MP Motorsport car.[3] Behind Liam Lawson and Dennis Hauger went either side of Jüri Vips into the first corner, with Hauger ultimately having to go around the outside and then hug the inside line of turn three in order to battle past the Estonian racer to grab third.[3]
A robust move from Lawson on Vips towards the end of the opening tour would see the #5 Carlin relegate the former Red Bull Junior down to fifth, while further back Drugovich had stayed out of trouble and held tenth, while Pourchaire had gained two places.[3] Yet, at the start of the second tour the Frenchman's weekend would get even worse, with a lunge down the inside of David Beckmann into Tarzan saw the #10 ART get out of shape and slide into the gravel, sending Pourchaire to the back of the field as he scrambled back onto the circuit.[3]
Jehan Daruvala was the next driver to take a trip through the gravel, also dropping to the back end of the pack after misjudging his turn-in point to the right-hander, before Olli Caldwell managed to reach the barriers at the same corner on lap four.[3] Fortunately for the race the Brit would manage to wiggle the #14 Campos back onto the circuit without outside intervention, but it would ultimately prove to be the end of his race as Campos retired the car a few laps later.[3]
The race subsequently entered a quiet phase, with DRS ensuring that the train of drivers from Novalak in second down to Frederik Vesti could not seriously consider a move.[3] Armstrong, meanwhile, would remain tantalisingly out of DRS range of Novalak as the Frenchman tried to get in position to claim revenge, with the #12 MP also being stalked by Hauger and Lawosn behind.[3]
Into the closing stages and Vips was visibly beginning to struggle, the #8 Hitech frequently on the verge of locking up before finally doing so into turn ten, although Richard Verschoor could not force the issue to claim fifth.[3] Daruvala, meanwhile, would go for a spin all on his own at turn ten, but recovered and remained in sixteenth, before Tatiana Caldéron caused a headache for race leader Armstrong, spinning into the gravel at turn two to trigger a late Safety Car with four laps to go.[3]
Quick work from the marshalls ensured that the race would restart at the end of the penultimate lap, and it was in that moment that Armstrong effectively secured his victory, catching Novalak sleeping as he bolted on the entry to the final corner.[3] That immediately handed the New Zealander a decisive one second advantage heading onto the final tour, with Novalak gathering himself up well enough to prevent Hauger from making a lunge of his own into turn one.[3]
Indeed, the order would barely be ruffled on the final tour, the only change of note coming when Ayumu Iwasa danced around the outside of Verschoor into Tarzan into the first corner to grab sixth from the home racer.[3] Armstrong, meanwhile, would remain almost a second clear of Novalak over the rest of the final tour to secure his third win of the season, while Novalak would do enough to resist Hauger to secure his first podium finish in second ahead of the Norwegian pilot.[3] Lawson and Vips were next up ahead of Iwasa, Verschoor resisted a late move from Logan Sargeant to grab seventh, while Drugovich claimed the bonus point for fastest lap by finishing tenth, inching ever closer to the Championship title.[3]
Background[]
A week after the trip to Spa-Francorchamps the FIA Formula 2 Championship found itself in unfamiliar territory, as it arrived at the Circuit Zandvoort in Zandvoort, North Holland, Netherlands, for the first time.[1] It was not, however, the Series' first attempt at racing at the Dutch venue, for the Series had previously announced that it would race there in 2020, although said plan was abandoned as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.[1][4] Regardless, 2022 would see F2 make its awaited debut at the Dutch circuit, supporting the Dutch Grand Prix for the first time, and mark the first visit for second tier single-seaters to the venue since the 1985 visit for International F3000.[1]
An Experimental Formula[]
Ahead of the trip to Zandvoort there would be news of a major new partnership for Formula 2 and sister series FIA Formula 3, as parent company Formula Motorsport Limited signed a deal with Aramco to be the series' fuel supplier for 2023 through to 2026.[5] The deal, officially called a "Memorandum of Understanding", would see Aramco supply both F2 and F3 with sustainable fuels from the start of the 2023 season, as part of a move from F1 and the FIA to use 100% sustainable fuels by 2026 and their wider aim of being net zero carbon by 2030.[5] F2 and F3 would hence be using higher and higher percentages of sustainable fuels during the life time of the deal, helping to develop an effective fuel formula for F1 to use when it made its official switch in 2026.[5]
Returns and Promotions[]
Ahead of the twelfth round of the 2022 campaign Campos Racing would see Olli Caldwell make his return to the #14 car after serving his ban for accruing too many penalty points on his race licence in Hungary, leaving Lirim Zendeli without a seat. However, the big news on the driver front ahead of the trip to Zandvoort would be confirmation that 2021 F2 Champion Oscar Piastri had officially secured a seat in Formula One after a turbulent few weeks in the F1 paddock centred on the Australian, former supporters Alpine and future employers McLaren.[6] Indeed, Piastri would be replacing compatriot Daniel Ricciardo at the British squad having spent 2022 sat on the sidelines at Alpine, under whose Alpine Academy entity had swept to the F2 title in 2021, before falling out with the French manufacturer as they tried and failed to retain the services of Fernando Alonso beyond the end of 2022, at Piastri's expense.[6]
A Spa Day for Drugovich[]
Into the Championship standings ahead of the trip to Zandvoort and second place in the Spa Feature Race, combined with his closest challenger failing to score, had left Felipe Drugovich in command of the Championship with six races to go, the Brazilian pilot's advantage having grown to 43 points during the weekend at Spa. Théo Pourchaire, Drugovich's aforementioned rival, would need a strong weekend in Zandvoort in order to keep his title hopes alive, as would Logan Sargeant who was all but out of the fight already. Indeed, the American pilot had slipped 76 points behind Drugovich after the eleventh round of the season, and was only eight ahead of Jack Doohan after the Australian racer had claimed his first Feature Race triumph in Belgium.
In contrast the spread of points at the summit of the Teams' Championship had severely narrowed after the twenty-second race of the season, with just twenty points separating the top three teams with six races to go. Head of the hunt were ART Grand Prix, although after their non-score in the Spa Feature the French squad's lead had collapsed to just ten points over Carlin in second. MP Motorsport were then a further ten behind in third in what was effectively a three horse race in the final three rounds, with fourth placed Hitech Grand Prix 83 points off the lead in third and realistically too far back to challenge.
Entry List[]
The full entry list for the 2022 Zandvoort Sprint Race is displayed below:
- * Placeholder liveries are show for the second drivers in each team.
Grid[]
The grid for the Sprint Race was set by reversing the top ten results from qualifying for the Feature Race, as per-FIA Formula 2 Championship rules.[2]
| Pos. | Pos. | |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | Driver | |
| ______________ | ||
| Row 1 | 1 | ______________ |
| Clément Novalak | 2 | |
| ______________ | Marcus Armstrong | |
| Row 2 | 3 | ______________ |
| Jüri Vips | 4 | |
| ______________ | Dennis Hauger | |
| Row 3 | 5 | ______________ |
| Liam Lawson | 6 | |
| ______________ | Ayumu Iwasa | |
| Row 4 | 7 | ______________ |
| Richard Verschoor | 8 | |
| ______________ | Logan Sargeant | |
| Row 5 | 9 | ______________ |
| Jack Doohan | 10 | |
| ______________ | Felipe Drugovich | |
| Row 6 | 11 | ______________ |
| Frederik Vesti | 12 | |
| ______________ | Amaury Cordeel | |
| Row 7 | 13 | ______________ |
| Enzo Fittipaldi | 14 | |
| ______________ | Roy Nissany | |
| Row 8 | 15 | ______________ |
| Marino Sato | 16 | |
| ______________ | Théo Pourchaire | |
| Row 9 | 17 | ______________ |
| Jehan Daruvala | 18 | |
| ______________ | David Beckmann | |
| Row 10 | 19 | ______________ |
| Olli Caldwell | 20 | |
| ______________ | Calan Williams | |
| Row 11 | 21 | ______________ |
| Ralph Boschung | 22 | |
| ______________ | Tatiana Caldéron |
Race[]
Report[]
Results[]
The final classification of the 2022 Zandvoort Sprint Race is displayed below:
| 2022 Zandvoort Sprint Race Race Result | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Laps | Race Time | Strat. | Fastest lap | Pts. |
| 1st | 7 | Marcus Armstrong
|
Hitech Grand Prix
|
29 | 43:42.549 | 
|
1:26.338 | 10 |
| 2nd | 12 | Clément Novalak
|
MP Motorsport
|
29 | +0.880s |
|
1:26.253 | 8 |
| 3rd | 1 | Dennis Hauger
|
 Prema Racing
|
29 | +1.990s |
|
1:26.293 | 6 |
| 4th | 5 | Liam Lawson
|
Carlin
|
29 | +2.517s |
|
1:26.261 | 5 |
| 5th | 8 |  Jüri Vips
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Hitech Grand Prix
|
29 | +3.026s |
|
1:26.225 | 4 |
| 6th | 17 |  Ayumu Iwasa
|
DAMS
|
29 | +3.318s |
|
1:26.287 | 3 |
| 7th | 20 | Richard Verschoor
|
Trident
|
29 | +4.268s |
|
1:26.366 | 2 |
| 8th | 6 |  Logan Sargeant
|
Carlin
|
29 | +4.650s |
|
1:26.218 | 1 |
| 9th | 3 |  Jack Doohan
|
Virtuosi Racing
|
29 | +4.840s |
|
1:25.987 | |
| 10th | 11 | Felipe Drugovich
|
MP Motorsport
|
29 | +5.458s |
|
1:25.808 | 1 |
| 11th | 9 |  Frederik Vesti
|
ART Grand Prix
|
29 | +6.287s |
|
1:26.439 | |
| 12th | 25 | Amaury Cordeel
|
Van Amersfoort Racing
|
29 | +6.719s |
|
1:26.377 | |
| 13th | 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi
|
 Charouz Racing System
|
29 | +7.416s |
|
1:26.382 | |
| 14th | 24 |  David Beckmann
|
Van Amersfoort Racing
|
29 | +8.103s |
|
1:26.237 | |
| 15th | 16 |  Roy Nissany
|
DAMS
|
29 | +8.940s |
|
1:26.431 | |
| 16th | 2 |  Jehan Daruvala
|
Prema Racing
|
29 | +9.719s |
|
1:26.020 | |
| 17th | 15 |  Ralph Boschung
|
 Campos Racing
|
29 | +9.818s |
|
1:26.708 | |
| 18th | 21 | Calan Williams
|
Trident
|
29 | +10.445s |
|
1:26.772 | |
| 19th | 4 | Marino Sato
|
Virtuosi Racing
|
29 | +11.288s |
|
1:26.688 | |
| 20th | 10 | Théo Pourchaire
|
ART Grand Prix
|
29 | +11.470s |
|
1:26.003 | |
| Ret | 23 |  Tatiana Caldéron
|
Charouz Racing System
|
25 | Spin |
|
1:26.775 | |
| Ret | 14 | Olli Caldwell
|
Campos Racing
|
11 | Damage |
|
1:27.421 | |
| Source:[8] | ||||||||
- Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
Milestones[]
- Fourth win for Marcus Armstrong.
- Hitech Grand Prix claimed their ninth win as an entrant.
- Maiden podium finish for Clément Novalak.
Standings[]
Despite only claiming a solitary point for fastest lap it had been another significant step towards the Championship title for Felipe Drugovich in the Championship hunt, the Brazilian racer's lead having increased to 44 points after the first battle of Zandvoort. Indeed, his main rival had failed to score once and hence had lost one of six remaining opportunities to catch back up to Drugovich, and knew that the Brazilian racer would be starting the Feature Race from pole position. The result had also reduced the chance for Logan Sargeant to challenge for the title too over the remaining races, although he had managed to inch closer to Pourchaire in a drawn out fight for second.
In the Teams' Championship ART Grand Prix had seen their slim lead get slimmer after the Zandvoort Sprint, with the French squad holding now nine point advantage with five races to go. Their closest challengers had remained Carlin on 244, while MP Motorsport had closed right onto the tail of the British effort, with Clément Novalak's maiden podium and Drugovich's fastest lap point leaving them just two further back in third. Hitech Grand Prix, meanwhile, had eeked out their advantage over Prema Racing in the fight for fourth, neither effort being considered as contenders for the title with fives race to go, while Van Amersfoort Racing had remained at the foot of the table.
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See Also[]
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See the related event on the Formula One Wiki |
| 2022 Dutch Grand Prix |
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References[]
Images and Videos:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 'FIA Formula 2 Championship 2022 season calendar announced', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 15/10/2021), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/17xLlSIJ5U2K8Fje0YvUbM/fia-formula-2-championship-2022-season-calendar-announced, (Accessed 19/03/2022)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 'QUALIFYING: Dominant Drugovich makes it two poles in a row', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 02/09/2022), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/7ujNjyoV2aWTuN35W9Zd7W/qualifying-dominant-drugovich-makes-it-two-poles-in-a-row, (Accessed 20/09/2022)
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 'SPRINT RACE: Armstrong cruises to victory at Zandvoort', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 03/09/2022), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/2CTo9Fhdq78DhhAPgxup05/sprint-race-armstrong-cruises-to-victory-at-zandvoort, (Accessed 20/09/2022)
- ↑ Jack Benyon, 'Formula 2 and Formula 3 2020 calendar revealed, Paul Ricard dropped', autosport.com, (Motorsport Network, 17/09/2019), https://www.autosport.com/f2/news/146054/f2-f3-20-calendars-revealed-paul-ricard-exits, (Accessed 04/03/2020)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 'Formula 2 and Formula 3 set to partner with Aramco to pioneer sustainable fuels from 2023', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 02/09/2022), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/4wadyUmDmt2wTbq9VRMRfE/formula-2-and-formula-3-set-to-partner-with-aramco-to-pioneer-sustainable-f2, (Accessed 20/09/2022)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 'Oscar Piastri confirmed as McLaren F1 driver for 2023', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 02/09/2022), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/3jRiTzCgpYBHKSHkh4ly62/oscar-piastri-confirmed-as-mclaren-f1-driver-for-2023, (Accessed 20/09/2022)
- ↑ 'F2 Entry List - Zandvoort 2022', fia.com, (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, 01/09/2022), https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2022%20Zandvoort%20Event%20-%20F2%20Entry%20List%20-%20Zandvoort%202022.pdf, (Accessed 20/09/2022)
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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