More than a Formula 2 weekend, we witnessed a Formula boredom weekend on the Zandvoort track. The Dutch circuit, characterized by a difficult layout for overtaking, has given very few emotions from the protagonists of the category and has seen Felipe Drugovich put a hand on the title when there are only 2 appointments left at the end of the season.
The Brazilian took advantage of the serious mistakes made by Pourchaire both in qualifying and in the Sprint Race and returned to occupy the top step of the podium after an absence that lasted from the Feature Race in Monaco.
F2, Zandvoort: boredom wins in the Sprint Race
The first race of the weekend in Zandvoort gave very few emotions. Many thought that the layout of the Dutch track would not match the performance and size of the Formula 2 single-seaters and the confirmation arrived on Saturday.
The winner was Marcus Armstrong, his second success of the season. The New Zealander of the Hitech GP took advantage of the uncertain start of the polesitter Novalak to take command of the operations at the start and never give it up until the checkered flag.
Not even the safety car that entered the track a few laps from the end did not help to revive things. Novalak thus closed on the second step of the podium in front of a Dennis Hauger who was good at the start to get the better of Juri Vips to grab third place.
Théo Pourchaire experienced the only emotions, but not the ones hoped for. The Frenchman of the ART Grand Prix, who had already seen his weekend compromised with the error in qualifying, further worsened the situation in the opening stages of the race by going to gravel in turn 1.
Podium: Race winner Marcus Armstrong, Hitech GP, second place Clement Novalak, MP Motorsport, third place Dennis Hauger, Prema Racing
Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd
The mistake is the result of the Frenchman’s awareness of having lost the opportunity to fight to the end for the title with Drugovich after retiring in the Spa-Francorchamps Feature Race.
Théo seemed nervous and out of focus as if he had given up when there are only a few appointments left at the end of the season. Too bad because the talent of the Sauber Academy was expected to be consecrated in 2022.
Drugovich ran without taking any particular risks. Starting from tenth place, he finished in the same position, collecting the point up for grabs for the fastest lap. Not much, but with the main rival out of the game it would have been useless to risk a contact and compromise the car in view of the Feature Race.
F2, Zandvoort: Drugovich in the chaos of the Feature Race
Confirmation that the Dutch track is not suitable for Formula 2 also came during the Feature Race. Few emotions on the track, many neutralizations with the safety car that contributed to creating chaos especially on the occasion of the second restart when a multiple rear-end collision knocked out Jack Doohan, Clement Novalak and Tatiana Calderon.
It was Felipe Drugovich who imposed himself, and thus put a very serious mortgage on the championship. The Brazilian, author of the pole, did not do anything wrong. Perfect in every lap, as well as in the management of soft tires in the first stint, Felipe has now put 70 points of margin on a Théo Pourchaire who appeared in a state of confusion in the Netherlands.
The Frenchman, after the mistakes in qualifying and in the Sprint Race, took advantage of the chaos in the last race of the weekend to go back up to claw the last point up for grabs with the tenth place, but by now he is aware that the games for the title are practically closed.
Pourchaire has a lot to blame for this weekend, but undoubtedly the technical failure accused in the Feature Race of Spa-Francorchamps weighed on the psyche of the transalpine.
“I try not to think about the advantage I have in the standings,” said Drugovich at a press conference. “We just have to keep doing what we are doing and I hope we can win the title.”
“This success represented my return to the top step of the podium after Monaco and I waited a long time to feel that feeling. I got a lot of second places and I’m happy to be able to win. Now we just have to keep pushing ”.
If the fight for the championship is now archived, the one for the role of vice champion of the category is more intense, but in Zandvoort it seemed to be staged a separate race between Pourchaire, Doohan and Logan Sargeant to understand who would have collected the fewest points.
Said of the terrible weekend of the Frenchman, it is impossible not to underline the collapse of the American of Carlin who immediately went to the wall during the first lap when he tried to remedy a long curve in curve 1.
Sargeant, in an attempt to overtake Boschung, hit the left rear of the Swiss, damaging his front wing and then crashing head-on against the protective barriers.
Jack Doohan, Virtuosi Racing
Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd
For the American, it was yet another nightmare weekend and it almost seems that he was affected by the rumors circulating in the middle of the season of a possible move to Williams next year.
Doohan, on the other hand, was plagued by bad luck. The Australian of the Alpine nursery, protagonist of a good growth in this second part of the championship, seemed the only one able to worry Drugovich for the success but was sent to the wall by Verschoor on the occasion of the second restart, thus seeing every possibility vanish .
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