Daruvala dominates in Monza for first win of the season
Monza, 11 Sept 2021: Carlin team’s Indian ace Jehan Daruvala put on a controlled performance in the second Sprint Race at Monza to claim his first victory of the season, ahead of Trident rookie Bent Viscaal and PREMA Racing’s Robert Shwartzman, who took his fourth podium of the year in the FIA Formula 2 Championship here on Saturday.
India’s fantastic run in International sport continued with Jehan Daruvala who started started second, and completely dominated the field from lap 1 to win by a massive margin.
“Hearing the National Anthem Jana Gana Mana… on the top step of Monza podium feels really special. Big thanks to my team Carlin Racing for the Mega car,” he said after the race in a statement received by INDIAinF1. “Winning at Monza is every racer’s dream. I had qualified well and knew I had the pace to win. Getting ahead of David at the start and then breaking the tow were critical moments in the race. A big thank you to Carlin for the great car. I’m looking forward to the feature race tomorrow,’ an elated Jehan, added.
The Red Bull Racing Junior, started on the front row at the ‘Temple of Speed’ behind German racer David Beckman. As the lights went out, Jehan had ru.an excellent start. He braked really late to make an excellent move into the first corner.
An incident behind resulted in a Virtual Safety Car situation. The moment racing resumed, Jehan put his head down and drove a clean consistent race. The first few laps had Beckman within DRS range, but Jehan kept his cool and slowly inched away, opening a 1 second margin. Once Beckman was out of DRS range, Jehan steadily increased his lead every lap.
Three laps before the finish, Jehan had already opened a comfortable 5 second margin. Beckman under pressure fell down to third while Dutchman, Bent Viscaal moved into second. Soon former F3 Champion, Robert Shwartzman from Russia also overtook the German.
is played at the FIA F2 Championship in Monza on Saturday.
Jehan’s dominance meant he won the race by over six seconds, ahead of Viscaal and Shwartzman. This was Jehan’s third podium of the season and second Formula 2 victory after he became the first-ever Indian to win a Formula 2 race last year at the Sakhir Grand Prix weekend.
Jehan’s fantastic performance in qualifying saw him qualify second, just 0.04 seconds shy of pole. He will start the Feature Race tomorrow in second position, where all racers need to complete a mandatory pit stop. The race will be telecast live on Eurosport at 2pm Sunday afternoon.
Leader Piastri finishes 7th: Given the chaos of the opener, the second Sprint Race was surprisingly peaceful, with Daruvala crossing the line 6.1s in front of Viscaal, who scored a maiden Formula 2 podium. Earlier in the first Sprint race, Daruvala finished 9th after starting from P2.
Shwartzman was a late entrant into the top three after reverse polesitter David Beckmann locked up late in the race and fell from second to fifth, behind Liam Lawson.
Championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Guanyu Zhou finished one behind the other in seventh and eighth, while Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips was ahead of them in sixth.
AS IT HAPPENED
Lining up from pole for the second race in succession, Beckmann endured an almost identical start, but this time it was the Carlin of Daruvala who got the jump on him, launching off the line and down the inside into Turn 1 to take first.
After a great getaway, Viscaal was up one place to third, ahead of Vips, but Sprint Race 1 hero Christian Lundgaard had been spun around and dumped at the back of the field.
There was a sense of déjà vu in the battle for seventh, as 2020 Formula 3 title rivals Théo Pourchaire and Piastri started to tussle. The Frenchman had already passed Zhou and was trying to muscle his way ahead of Piastri too, eventually making the move stick after several corners of toing and froing.
A Virtual Safety Car meant that Piastri was unable to reply, as HWA RACELAB teammates Jake Hughes and Alessio Deledda collided, leaving the Briton’s car stuck in the wall. Guilherme Samaia had also pulled his Charouz Racing System to a stop at the pit entrance.
After momentarily losing fifth to Lawson, Shwartzman recovered to not only reclaim P5 but to snatch fourth from Vips as well, who then fell a place further behind his Hitech teammate.
Piastri set the fastest lap on his way to regaining seventh from Pourchaire, with the ART wobbling ever-so-slightly wide and plunging into the clutches of Zhou, but the Virtuosi racer opted against an initial move and decided to remain patient.
Piastri was allowed to scamper off up the road as Pourchaire switched his attention to defending P8, but the Sprint Race 1 winner missed the chicane and had to go through the escape road, returning in ninth, out of the points.
Daruvala was looking untroubled out in front, but Beckmann and Viscaal were still battling for P2, six seconds further back. The Campos locked up at Turn 1 and had to take the escape road. Returning in third, he attempted to retake second but appeared to have re-joined the track unsafely, which the Stewards duly noted.
Viscaal brushed off the challenge and darted off into the distance, as first Shwartzman, and then Lawson, both jumped Beckmann and dropped him to fifth ahead of the chequered flag. Vips held onto sixth in front of Piastri and Zhou.
“I think that a win was long overdue this season, so I am very happy. This weekend has been good so far, I’ve been consistently quick. I think we deserved the win, hopefully, I can repeat it tomorrow.”
THE CHAMPIONSHIP VIEW
Piastri leads the Drivers’ title fight on 124 points, ahead of Zhou on 116 and Shwartzman on 105. Vips is fourth with 90 and Dan TIcktum is fifth with 89.
In the Teams’ title fight, PREMA are first with 229 points, in front of UNI-Virtuosi on 175 and Hitech on 162. Carlin are fourth with 160 and ART fifth with 120.
WHAT’S NEXT?
After securing a second successive pole on Friday afternoon, Piastri will look to extend his Championship lead in the Feature Race. The PREMA will line up ahead of Daruvala and Zhou when the action begins on Sunday at 1.45 pm IST (10.25am (local race time Monza).
Action from FIA Formula 2 – Monza, Italy – Feature Race will be LIVE on EUROSPORT and EUROSPORT HD from 01:45 pm (in India) onwards on Sunday, 12th September, 2021. Eurosport channel can now be streamed on the discovery+ app.
