A late Safety Car halts Ticktum’s progress as Piastri wins his first-ever F2 Feature Race at Monza

If it wasn’t for a Safety Car with two laps to go, Dan Ticktum was on course to stealing the race victory from championship leader Oscar Piastri.

However, that exact Safety Car protected the Prema driver’s lead as he crossed over the line first ahead of Guanyu Zhou in second and Ticktum in third.

Starting Grid

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Championship leader Oscar Piastri was the quickest in Friday’s qualifying session as he claimed pole position for the Feature Race. On the front row, he was joined by Jehan Daruvala with Guanyu Zhou directly behind him in third.

Liam Lawson started fourth ahead of Felipe Drugovich in fifth, Ralph Boschung in sixth, Theo Pourchaire in seventh, Dan Ticktum in eighth, Juri Vips in ninth and David Beckmann in 10th.

Lirim Zendeli narrowly missed out on the top 10 as he qualified 11th with championship contender, Robert Shwartzman, alongside him on the sixth row starting from 12th.

On his Feature Race debut, Enzo Fittipaldi started from 13th ahead of Marino Sato in 14th, Roy Nissany in 15th, Jake Hughes in 16th, Marcus Armstrong in 17th, Bent Viscaal in 18th, Christian Lundgaard in 19th, Richard Verschoor in 20th, Guilherme Samaia in 21st and Alessio Deledda in 22nd.

As It Happened

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It was a good getaway from pole-sitter Piastri as he lead into turn one. Daruvala had a slow start off the line as he was swallowed by Zhou and Lawson which dropped him down to fourth place.

On the exit of the second lesmo, Samaia spun around as the Virtual Safety Car was deployed with the Safety Car released moments later.

As the Safety Car peeled into the pits, Piastri led the drivers over the line. Drugovich and Daruvala battled for fourth place as the Brazilian took the position, but the Carlin driver reclaimed the position back moments later.

Into the second chicane, Lawson moved up to second place after a fantastic move down the inside of Zhou. Armstrong made contact with Verschoor at the same chicane as the Aussie dropped down to 19th and sustained damage to his car.

Boschung became the first driver to pit onto the medium tyres on lap seven as Shwartzman moved up to ninth ahead of Zendeli.

The MP Motorsport of Zendeli then dropped out of the points as Fittipaldi claimed 10th place. The Safety Car was deployed as Vips retired from the race. The Estonian stopped on the exit of the second chicane as Ticktum made contact and sustained damage to the nose of his car.

During the Safety Car period, most of the field went into the pits to change onto the medium tyre as the likes of Ticktum, Lundgaard and Armstrong raced on due to their alternative strategy.

Sato was the next driver out of the race as the Trident driver lost power and jumped out of his car with his head in his hands.

On lap 11, Ticktum led the drivers over the line again as the green flags were waved. Zhou and Daruvala battled for a net third place with the former coming out victorious as he ran wide at the second chicane but the race directors deemed the overtake as fair.

Deledda, who was yet to pit, fell down the order as Piastri, Zhou, Daruvala, Pourchaire and Lawson moved ahead of the Italian driver.

At the halfway point of the race, Ticktum was in the lead ahead of Lundgaard in second and Piastri in third. Zhou followed in fourth with Armstrong in fifth, Daruvala in sixth, Pourchaire in seventh, Lawson in eighth, Fittipaldi in ninth and Shwartzman in 10th.

In the battle for second place, Piastri battled with his fellow Alpine Academy driver, Lundgaard, but the Aussie came out on top and claimed the position.

Daruvala, Pourchaire and Lawson both made up places as they overtook Armstrong with fresher tyres playing a big part in the latter stages of the race.

Lawson’s pulled off to the side of the track as his fire extinguisher went off inside his Hitech car with the Safety Car released again.

This allowed Ticktum to finally make his pit stop as Piastri was released into the lead and the Brit dropped down to 11th after his stop.

With five laps to go, the green flag was waved and the drivers made the dash down to turn one. Piastri locked up but held the lead of the race with Ticktum up into the points with his soft tyre advantage.

In the space of four laps, the Carlin driver moved up into the podium places as he was on course to win the race. However, his progress was halted as Beckmann and Viscaal collided with each other at the first chicane which saw them both retire and the Safety Car was released.

The race finished under the Safety Car with Piastri crossing the line first ahead of Zhou in second and Ticktum in third.

Pourchaire finished fourth ahead of Daruvala in fifth, Shwartzman in sixth, Verschoor in seventh, Zendeli in eighth, Nissany in ninth and Armstrong in 10th.