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Oscar Piasri’s magnificent pace saw him clock his fourth successive Feature Race victory as he caps off his Formula 2 career with a win.
The Aussie turned pole position into another success as he crossed the line first with UNI-Virtuosi duo, Guanyu Zhou and Felipe Drugovich, finishing second and third respectively.
Starting Grid
F2 champion Oscar Piastri lines up on pole position after he set a brilliant 1:35.077 in Friday evening’s qualifying session. The Prema driver had his compatriot and F2 rookie Jack Doohan for company on the front row of the grid as he started second.
Guanyu Zhou started his final F2 race from third with Robert Shwartzman in fourth, Ralph Boschung in fifth, Theo Pourchaire in sixth, Liam Lawson in seventh, Felipe Drugovich in eighth and the two Carlin’s of Dan Ticktum and Jehan Daruvala in ninth and 10th respectively.
Marcus Armstrong started in 11th, Christian Lundgaard in 12th, Roy Nissany in 13th, Marino Sato in 14th, Juri Vips in 15th, Richard Verschoor in 16th, Bent Viscaal in 17th, Jake Hughes in 18th, Olli Caldwell in 19th, Clement Novalak in 20th, Guilherme Samaia in 21st and Alessio Deledda in 22nd.
As It Happened
Off the line, it was a good start from Piastri as the Aussie led into turn one. Zhou frantically tried to get past Doohan throughout the opening lap before the pair tangled at turn 10 which left the MP Motorsport driver in the barrier with the Safety Car deployed.
On lap five, racing resumed and Piastri didn’t hesitate to get his foot down and pull a gap to Zhou.
Lawson was the first driver to box on lap six as Shwartzman and Ticktum followed suit before Piastri, Zhou, Boschung, Verschoor and Nissany all made their stops.
In the battle for the lead, Drugovich was all over leader Pourchaire’s gearbox, however, the Brazilian fell back over the coming laps.
Piastri, on mediums, caught Deledda and made a simple move with DRS assistance into turn six on lap 18. Zhou made an identical move a lap later and leapfrogged the HWA Racelab for 11th.
Ticktum moved up to 13th on lap 22, despite a small amount of contact between himself and Lawson at turn nine.
The fastest lap times were tumbling in as Armstrong became the third driver to clinch the race’s new fastest lap and overtook his compatriot Lawson on lap 27.
Pourchaire boxed for fresh softs at the end of lap 27 and dropped to sixth with Drugovich and Daruvala continuing for another lap. After making their stops, the duo rejoined in fourth and seventh respectively as Drugovich jumped Pourchaire after a perfectly executed overcut.
Pourchaire wasn’t willing to be beaten though as he made a move on Drugovich into turn six and reclaimed fourth on lap 29.
The UNI-Virtuosi driver made a late move on the Frenchman into turn five on lap 31. Pourchaire looked to reclaim the position but the Virtual Safety Car was deployed after Lawson’s retirement.
Racing resumed on lap 32, and with the use of DRS, Drugovich moved up to third into turn six with Pourchaire up to fourth past the struggling Russian.
In the end, it was Piastri who won his final F2 feature race and his fourth in succession with Zhou in second and Drugovich in third.
Pourchaire, Shwartzman, Ticktum, Armstrong, Vips, Boschung and Verschoor rounded out the top 10 finishers.
A quote from the race winner
After the race, a delighted Oscar Piastri explained the importance of leaving F2 on a high:
“Especially after my race two performance yesterday, it was nice to end off on a high. We were starting from the front and I guess the first aim from the team’s perspective was to make sure we ended one and two in the standings with myself and Robert [Shwartzman] and in the end it worked out.”
What’s Next?
Sunday’s final Feature Race concludes the 2021 F2 season. Zhou and Piastri make the move to Formula 1 whilst many of the drivers will stay in Formula 2 to fight it out for the 2022 title.
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