Monaco Roulette
Unexpected and at the same time incredible result in the Feature Race of the Monaco GP, demonstrating that sometimes luck and risky strategies can help the most unexpected driver to victory: Zak O’Sullivan. The Briton, who remained on the track until the penultimate lap, took advantage of the perfect moment Virtual Safety Car at the end to leap into the lead ahead of Isack Hadjar, recovering 14 positions in one fell swoop and taking his first victory in Formula 2.
Race report
The race began in the name of poleman Richard Verschoor, who also thanks to the terrible start of Victor Martins (he even slipped to 16th place) managed to maintain the leadership ahead of Hadjar and Aron, with Antonelli in turn climbing back to fifth place after two positions recovered. A positive performance by the Prema driver from Bologna, who also set the fastest lap in the first ten laps but had clear difficulty in overtaking Colapinto on the narrow and winding roads of the Principality. As if that wasn’t enough, upon returning to the track with colder tyres, the 17-year-old was unable to withstand the attack of his teammate Oliver Bearman, who was very aggressive at the hairpin in moving into virtual fifth position. An action that occurred shortly before the technical problems experienced by Verschoor, forced to retire his Trident on lap 31 with evident sadness in the pits for a dream ruined after an error-free race. An episode, the latter, which thus gave the virtual first position to Isack Hadjar, waiting to obtain the actual 1st place only after the pit stops of the drivers in front of him, who had not yet changed tires. With two laps to go, the latter returned to the pits for the mandatory stop, including Zak O’Sullivan. The Briton, however, entered the pit lane just at the moment in which the Virtual Safety Car regime was decreed for Durksen’s impact with the barriers. In this way, with the cars behind him forced to reduce the pace, the ART Grand Prix driver managed to come out in command of the race with the pit stop made, recovering 14 positions and thus denying Hadjar the opportunity to win the Monaco Feature Race. The Frenchman thus finished in 2nd place ahead of Paul Aron, while Antonelli crossed the finish line in 7th place.
F2 / Monaco 2024, Feature Race: order of arrival
POS. | PILOT | TEAM | TIME/GAP |
1 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART Grand Prix | 1:00:25.696 |
2 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | +0.580 |
3 | Paul Aron | Hitech | +8,053 |
4 | Oliver Bearman | Press | +9.118 |
5 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | +9,586 |
6 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | +9,945 |
7 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Press | +17,540 |
8 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | +17.847 |
9 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix | +18.021 |
10 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | +26,555 |
11 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | +26,983 |
12 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Van Amersfoort | +27,418 |
13 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | +30.213 |
14 | Josep Maria Martì | Campos | +31.662 |
15 | Miyata returns | Rodin | +32,386 |
16 | Roman Stanek | Trident | +33.309 |
17 | Kush Maini | Invicta | +33,796 |
18 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | Withdrawn |
19 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | Withdrawn |
20 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort | Withdrawn |
21 | Jack Crawford | DAMS | Withdrawn |
22 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech | Withdrawn |
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