Felipe Drugovich saw Théo Pourchaire drop ten points in the 2022 F2 World Championship. Now, 39 points separate the two in the table - a number that is still remarkable, but that the Brazilian himself knows may be insufficient to keep him in the lead if he does not win again soon
Felipe Drugovich left the Azerbaijan round, held between June 9 and 11, with no less than 49 points ahead of Théo Pourchaire in the Formula 2 2022 World Championship. It was, without a doubt, an unimaginable performance for the driver himself, and even more so for MP, whose best results up to that point had been in 2020 and 2021, when he finished sixth.
After six rounds, Drugovich's four victories - the main race in Jeddah, the two in Barcelona, and again the main race in Monaco - propelled the Dutch team to the top of the table. From now on, however, the Brazilian knew he would have a great challenge: to sustain his advantage in front of tough opponents who also give their all in the pursuit of the dream of being part of the elite of world motorsport: Formula 1.
Three more rounds were held: England, Austria, and France. In the last six races, the best result of the pilot from Paraná was two fourth places. In Austria, in the main race, the rain brought an uncertain scenario even before the start. With the track drying up, Drugovich joined the group of those who preferred not to risk and started with intermediates, but the strategy ended up being wrong, and he didn't score any points (his second race out of the top-10 so far).
Even so, the difference in the table was big, and this has been the great trump card of the 22-year-old in this short dry spell: playing with the advantage and, even if the opponents get ahead, trying to be as close as possible in order not to lose so many points.
Let's look at his main opponent, Théo Pourchaire: The French ART driver was second on the podium in two feature races (England and France) and only failed to score in the main race, in Spielberg - coincidentally, the same race where Drugovich got a zero, since both bet on the same strategy and did not succeed.
Overall, 51 points were earned, which made him one step closer to the fight for the title. But the Brazilian, even though he has been behind Pourchaire in five of the six races, was always close to his rival and managed to score 41 points. The gap, therefore, is down by ten points, but is still remarkable: 39.
Now let's look at the current third place, Logan Sargeant. The American, who had only 59 points until Baku, scored the most points in the last three rounds of the season and even took the second place, overtaking Pourchaire. Of the three, he was the only one to win not just one, but two main races (England and Austria).
Suddenly, attention turned to the representative of Carlin - which, by the way, is a better team than MP. He still had a podium finish in Baku, which means that he signed his name on the list of title contenders with strength. But as fate would have it, Pourchaire, at home, reversed the situation and returned to second place. Sargeant had problems and abandoned, dropping to third.
Meanwhile, Drugovich kept a solid lead. But not a quiet one. The rivals' performance proved that it wouldn't be so easy just to manage the fat until the end, quite the contrary. And the Brazilian himself hit the hammer when commenting the weekend in Paul Ricard.
"I know we need to win again, and I hope that happens as soon as possible. But I am happy with the results of the weekend. We improved a lot from practice to the race, and I think in the last race some 'little things' were missing that didn't fit. Fourth place was the least we could have achieved. We scored points and kept the lead. Now we have to keep focused in search of improvement. The evolution of the others is clear and we have to work hard to keep up with them", said Drugovich.
The synthesis was perfect. Without a doubt, the four victories in the beginning were crucial to bring 'Drugo' up to here, but they are not enough in face of such a competitive grid.
Drugovich's 2022 season is worthy of applause, especially for what he has been doing aboard the modest MP - which Drugovich himself has already said he doesn't consider the best team in the grid, but it is impossible not to recognize how much the car this year matched the driver. If he maintains this regularity, he is on his way to becoming the champion, and it would not be absurd to say that, now, all that is needed is to manage the advantage. But it will be even better to start doing this with one more victory in his account, no doubt.