In a race dictated by tyre strategy, Theo Pourchaire took his third race win of the year significantly closing the gap to championship leader Felipe Drugovich. The ART driver was joined on the podium by Enzo Fittipaldi in P2 and Ayumu Iwasa in P3.
A brilliant start and consistent drive saw Pourchaire sail to victory after securing a 3.6s lead ahead of Fittipaldi in P2. Taking the outside line into turn 1, the Frenchman was able to jump from a P4 start up to P2, setting his intentions for the rest of the race. A great pit stop strategy helped him take the lead of the race which he confidently held on to, even with the threat of rain that started to show in the closing moments of the race.
“It was a very good race. I don’t know if I can say it was my best race in F2, but it’s very good to win this race just before the holidays. It’s a perfect way to go on the break. The car was good, we struggled a bit with the balance, actually. I don’t think I was the fastest car on track, but I did a very good job at Turn 1 and the team did a good strategy and pitstop as well…I maximised everything. In the end, we won that race. It’s amazing.”
Theo Pourchaire in the post-race press conference
Pourchaire’s feature race win, with his nearest title rival finishing P9, has closed down the gap at the top of the championship and he is bringing the fight to current leader Felipe Drugovich – they stand 21 points apart.
Enzo Fittipaldi had a standout weekend in Hungary with back to back podiums achieving a P3 in the sprint race and P2 in the feature. Showing the effectiveness of an overcut done right, the Charouz driver managed to get by four drivers who had previously been ahead taking a net P1. Once Pourchaire pit, he almost instantly passed the Brazilian demoting him to P2. However even with a last lap scare that saw him drop almost two seconds in a few sectors, Fittipaldi was able to hold on to P2 and secure his second podium of the weekend.
“It’s been a really strong weekend. Honestly, we just had a really good pace the whole weekend…we were fast this weekend in the race pace. Today in the Feature Race, starting ninth, it was really difficult to make the overtakes. I was able to make very good overtakes and keep a really good pace and I was able to extend my soft stint longer than anyone else. The pitstop was amazing, so the team did an amazing job.”
Enzo Fittipaldi in the post-race press conference
From starting on pole to dropping to P3, Sunday’s feature race was difficult for rookie driver Ayumu Iwasa who struggled to regain momentum after a difficult race start. By turn one the DAMS driver had been relegated to third place after being swiftly overtaken by Marcus Armstrong and Theo Pourchaire. After pitting on lap eight, Iwasa came back on track behind Pourchaire but was then jumped in the pits by Enzo Fittipaldi leaving him in P3. The Red Bull junior tried to challenge Fittipaldi but was unable to make an overtake, the two finished 2.286s apart.
“Basically, it was quite a difficult race for me…everything was a little bit, just not enough. I think that’s why I got this result.”
Ayumu Iwasa in the post-race press conference
With ART opting for the alternate strategy, Frederik Vesti turned a P7 start into a P4 finish. Lap 1 contact in which Vesti forced another driver off track saw him on the receiving end of a five-second time penalty. But a penalty didn’t deter the Mercedes junior, after finally stopping on lap 26, he stormed through the field and without the penalty, a podium would have been more than attainable for the Dane.
Post-race penalties
A turn one incident between Roy Nissany and Roberto Merhi saw Merhi unable to finish the race due to significant damage to his rear right suspension. The stewards viewed Nissany to be wholly responsible for the contact and so was given a 10-second time penalty, this drops the DAMS driver from P16 to P18.
Olli Caldwell has also been on the receiving end of post-race penalties as the stewards judged he had left the track without justifiable reason on four occasions. The Brit was given a 5-second time penalty but remains in P20. The bit hit for Caldwell however comes in the shape of penalty points, the stewards gave him one penalty point for the offence which takes his total to 12. This means the Campos Racing driver will be suspended from the next race in Spa-Francorchamps.
How the championships stand
Though ART Grand Prix have held on to the top spot of the constructors’ championship, there has been plenty of change behind. Carlin and MP Motorsport remain very evenly matched, with the former taking P2 from the latter by just a single point. Hitech Grand Prix and PREMA Racing have also switched positions, a P5 and P6 for Vips and Armstrong has allowed Hitech to take the lead in P4 by three points. An all round bad weekend for Virtuosi Racing has seen them fall two places to P8 with DAMS and Charouz taking P6 and P7 respectively, the three teams remain just 14 points apart.
A feature race win has allowed Theo Pourchaire to significantly close the gap to current leader Felipe Drugovich to 21 points. Enzo Fittipaldi’s brilliant double podium weekend has helped him climb three places in the championship up to P4, demoting PREMA’s Jehan Daruvala to P5. The rookies of Frederik Vesti and Ayumu Iwasa have also climbed significantly, both up two places each to take P6 and P7 respectively. Liam Lawson and Jack Doohan are now joint 8th on 88 points, this comes as Lawson falls two places and Doohan four, even despite his sprint race win.
Feature image: © Formula Motorsport Limited
To catch up on Iwasa’s pole in F2 qualifying click here and for Doohan’s F2 sprint race win, click here.