Logan Sargeant set the best lap and then improved on what already looked like an unbeatable spin to take pole at Silverstone. Jehan Daruvala takes the lead in the sprint race
Without the sun of Formula 1's second free practice, held shortly before, Formula 2 qualifying at Silverstone on Friday afternoon (1) had closed weather. The rain, however, did not show up. The better for Logan Sargeant, who took pole position for the weekend in England.
Sargeant had only one real rival in qualifying: Frederik Vesti. The Dane was fastest in the first round of fast laps, but Sargeant would fly in the second round for an unbeatable time. Nevertheless, he himself went on to reinforce the lead on the next attempt. Vesti was second.
Felipe Drugovich and Théo Pourchaire, leader and vice leader of Formula 2, had exactly the same time and started, in this order, third and fourth. Liam Lawson, Ayumu Iwasa, Jack Doohan, Jüri Vips, Enzo Fittipaldi, and Jehan Daruvala round out the top-10. According to the inverted grid system, Daruvala will be pole and Fittipaldi will complete the front row in the sprint race.
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Check out how the qualifying went:
On the heels of Formula 1's free practice, late in the afternoon in local time and as the sun returned to give way to an entirely cloudy sky, Formula 2 set off for qualifying in England. The 30 minutes started, as usual, with the track already full.
The weekend started with Felipe Drugovich leading and with a good advantage: 132 points against 83 for second place Théo Pourchaire, which meant a 49-point lead. And ten more to third place Jehan Daruvala.
The English round was also the first since the dismissal of Jüri Vips by the Red Bull Driver's Academy. The Estonian said racist slurs during a broadcast on Twitch during the week of the Canadian GP and ended up being sacked by the team. Even so, Hitech decided to keep him in the F2 ranks, albeit against the wishes of the category, which said it was surprised by the decision.
The first round of fast laps in qualifying favored Frederik Vesti, who comes from a pole position in Azerbaijan. The Dane's 1min39s611 placed him 0s3s ahead of Jack Doohan, Vips, and Drugovich, who were next in line.
Meanwhile, Enzo Fittipaldi had problems and slipped out at the Abbey turn, which cost him a fast lap and pushed the Brazilian, who has been growing this season, to 20th place.
In the second round of laps, the shining star was Logan Sargeant. The American driver lapped in 1min38s946 and placed 0s4 ahead of Vips and Lawson. Drugovich had a good lap, but slipped at the end and ended up 10th. The sequence was as follows: Sargeant, Vips, Lawson, Dennis Häuger, Marcus Armstrong, Vesti, Pourchaire, Ayumu Iwasa, Jake Hughes and Drugovich in the top ten positions.
After that, as is traditionally the case, the track was less busy with the vast majority of drivers in the pits to change tires and make final adjustments for the final attempt.
Daruvala was the one who took the track first, before the pack, and managed to jump up to second place. When the pack returned, Sargeant again separated himself. The Carlin driver did 1min38s432 and increased the gap momentarily to 0s6. But others would also go better than before.
Vesti was second with a lap only 0s107 slower. Drugovich was also 0s1s1 slower than Logan, as was Pourchaire. The championship leader and vice leader had the same time. Iwasa could neck fifth.
Sargeant started another flying lap, but the feeling was that his tires were already starting to wear out on the second attempt. David Beckamnn had problems and had to stop the car and exit qualifying, while Drugovich even spun on the last fast lap. Nothing else would change: pole for Sargeant and Daruvala in tenth, which propels the Indian driver to the top of the sprint race.