Podium for Jehan Daruvala in Sprint Race 2: F2

Baku, 5 June 2021: Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips kept his nose clean in a chaotic Sprint Race 2 in Baku to take his first-ever win, in Formula 2’s 100th race, putting on a controlled performance among multiple stoppages and six retirements, to finish ahead of Charouz Racing System’s David Beckmann and Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala.

After the race, ace Indian driver Daruvala said: “Finally, P3 it is. I had a really good opening lap. getting myself upto P4 from P7. The race was eventful from then on with the safety cars… Happy with today & looking to build on it for the Feature Race tomorrow. Big thanks to Carlin Racing for the car.” Jehan is now sixth in the standings with 47 points.

Jehan at post-race press conference:

FIA Formula 2: Jehan coming to you, that was a race full of pressure and you came through in P3, talk us through it?

Jehan Daruvala: I think it was an eventful race, I had a really good start and was very aggressive on the first lap and even on the safety car restarts. That’s where I made up my positions. I didn’t quite have the pace of Jüri, I think I struggled but I managed to switch the tyres on after all the stoppages. Once I got into the rhythm it felt alright. But as David said earlier, because of the headwind Jüri couldn’t pull away and David was also getting a tow, so the DRS was less effective than I thought it would be with the headwind. I think Jüri was basically pushing the wind for everyone. I tried my best, honestly, I know that if I lost DRS, I would be under pressure, so I pushed the whole way. Definitely there is stuff for me to improve, hopefully I can look at the data because Dan came from the back into the points. I think if I work tonight, I can be back on the podium tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: You said a moment ago, you lacked a bit of pace in Sprint Race 1 clearly, you’ve made some improvements already, where did they come from and how much better was the car this afternoon?

Daruvala: I think the car was even good in Race 1, but I lacked confidence with the stoppages. As David mentioned with the F2 cars it’s hard to warm the breaks up after the restarts so I think it’s a confidence thing more than anything. Once I get into the rhythm, I feel alright. There’s still a couple of corners where if I improve, I’ll have more chances over overtaking in the race. Like I said, I’ll work hard tonight and if improve on those bits I can be back up here tomorrow.

FIA Formula 2: Jehan finally from me, how satisfying was is to bounce back after quite a difficult Monaco weekend for you?

Daruvala: It was a difficult weekend in Monaco, obviously I didn’t score any points. Sometimes you need to put a weekend like that behind you, but if you do that you don’t learn so I still did everything I could after Monaco to understand where I could improve because we were coming to another street track. All in all, I’ve scored good points in these first two races so I’d like to do the same tomorrow.

Kick-start for pre-season favourites

Baku is proving to be somewhat of a kick-starter for pre-season title favourites in F2, with Vips joining Robert Shwartzman in taking a maiden win of the season, the duo both bouncing back after disappointing starts to the year.

It was far from plain sailing though, as the Estonian had to work hard for the win. Starting from third, the Hitech driver survived two Safety Car restarts while working his way past Bent Viscaal and David Beckmann.

Despite putting up a good fight, Charouz rookie Beckmann had to settle for second ahead of Daruvala, while reverse polesitter Viscaal dropped down to fourth.

Shwarztman followed up his maiden win with fifth ahead of Dan Ticktum, who recovered from an opening-lap crash to take sixth. Liam Lawson made up 13 places to seventh, with Oscar Piasti taking the final points’ place.

AS IT HAPPENED

After a frantic start to the first sprint race, the majority of the field were just hoping to get through the opening two corners unscathed, but that wasn’t the case, with several incidents off the line. Guanyu Zhou and Ticktum locked-up and spun at the first corner, shortly before Ralph Boschung was caught by Théo Pourchaire.

Having kept his nose clean inside of the opening two corners, Beckmann threw his Charouz around the outside of reverse polesitter Viscaal at Turn 3, going wheel to wheel with the Trident, before braking daringly late at Turn 4 and coming out inches ahead of the Dutchman in first.

The Charouz got his move done just in time, as a Safety Car was then required to clean up the Turn 1 incidents. Ticktum and Pourchaire had dropped down the field, but both managed to get going again. Zhou and Boschung weren’t as lucky, with both forced to retire from the race, along with Lirim Zendeli, the MP Motorsport driver having gone wide at Turn 2.

Beckmann aced his restart when the Safety Car returned to the pits, but Viscaal lost another position, falling to third behind Vips. Further back, Pourchaire’s race went from the bad to worse, with his team spotting damage to his front wing and calling him into the pits for a change.

The Safety Car wasn’t back in the pitlane for long, as Roy Nissany struck the back of Richard Verschoor and dumped the Dutchman’s MP Motorsport into the wall.

After several more laps under Safety Car conditions, Beckmann nailed another restart, while Viscaal attempted to reclaim second from Vips, but the Trident ran wide and dropped down to fifth, behind Daruvala and Marcus Armstrong.

Yet again, there was drama further back when racing resumed, as Felipe Drugovich caught Christian Lundgaard and spun the ART Grand Prix into the wall at Turn 1. Armstrong’s DAMS ended up in the wall as well, suffering from a case of cold tyres as he attempted to pass Viscaal.

Only a Virtual Safety Car was required on this occasion, but six retirements and three separate stoppages had given the order an almighty shake-up. Ticktum was back up in sixth, despite dropping to last after his opening lap crash, while Lawson was up to eighth, having started in 20th.

The latest race restart didn’t go as smoothly for Beckmann, the German just about clung on to first but had Vips all over his rear wing. The Estonian waited patiently for DRS down the main straight and decisively lunged down the side of the Charouz for the race lead.

All of that action came inside of a manic 10 laps, but action cooled from there, with the field wary of taking too many risks, given the incidents they’d already seen. However, having already made up 12 places from 20th, Lawson wasn’t opposed to taking a few more risks and dove down the side of Piastri to snatch seventh.

Almost everyone else seemed to be happy to stick where they were though. On course for his first points in fourth, Viscaal was keeping third-placed Daruvala in his sights, hoping the Carlin made a mistake.

That mistake never came and Daruvala held on to the final podium spot as they crossed the line. In front of them, Vips crossed the chequered flag unopposed as well, beating Beckmann by 3.2s.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP VIEW

Finishing outside of the points, Guanyu Zhou retains his place at the top of the Drivers’ Championship on 78 points, but Piastri has moved into second, tied on 55 points with Pourchaire, but ahead of countback. Dan Ticktum is fourth with 54 points, ahead of Shwarztman who is fifth with 51 points.

UNI-Virtuosi remain at the top of the Teams’ Championship with 107 points, ahead of PREMA on 106 and Carlin on 101. Hitech Grand Prix are fourth with 80 points and ART Grand Prix fifth with 71 points.