Richard Verschoor bet on starting with slick tires when the track was wet in Austria and ended up taking the race on Sunday (10). Felipe Drugovich was only 13th
Richard Verschoor easily won race 2 of the F2 series in Austria, held this Sunday (10). The driver lined up eighth, but was right to start on slicks when the Red Bull Ring track was already paved and jumped to the lead on lap 7 to stay there. It was the Dutchman's second win of the 2022 season - his first was in the opening round, in the sprint race in Bahrain.
Jehan Daruvala finished second, as luck would have it that a surprising Roberto Merhi - who started 20th, but started on dry tires and had a great race - was punished 5s on the last lap. The 31-year-old Spaniard was called up by Campos to replace Ralph Boschung, who decided to retire indefinitely due to a neck injury.
Merhi crossed second, but dropped to fifth for exceeding track limits, behind fourth-placed Enzo Fittipladi and Logan Sargeant, who rounded out the podium.
Besides the tires, the track limits were another character that stole the show in the race. Several drivers took punishments throughout the race, especially in the final laps. Besides Merhi, Ayumu Iwasa, Frederik Vesti, Calan Williams, and Liam Lawson also had time added to the final result for exceeding the track limits.
With this, the top-10 was completed by Dennis Hauger, Jake Huges, Olli Caldwell, Iwasa (who still managed to score points), and Jüri Vips.
Felipe Drugovich, in fifth, was in the group of those who started with intermediates and lost many positions at the beginning. Théo Pourchaire did the same thing, and although he started well, he didn't resist much time on the track with the intermediates. They finished 13th and 14th, respectively, outside the scoring zone.
The rain was heavy in Austria and played a key role in the outcome of the race, even though it stopped well before the start. However, it was enough to make the track damp and to change the tire strategy of the teams.
The top drivers were conservative and started with intermediates, not wanting to risk an escape in the first laps. But it was clear that it would not take long for the track to dry out, so many chose to start with soft compounds - among them Fittipaldi, lining up 12th.
At the start, Vips braked better and jumped to the lead, bringing Iwasa along with him. Vesti dropped to third, while Drugovich lost one position, coming in sixth. At the back of the pack, Marcus Armstrong, winner of the sprint race, was involved in the usual confusion at the start and took the worst of it, getting his car in the middle of the track and bringing out the yellow flag.
The safety car was called on the second lap, and soon Amaury Cordeel ran to change to slicks. The majority with intermediate compounds, however, opted to stay on the track. Three laps later, the safety car left the race.
At the restart, Vips held the lead, followed by Vesti, Ayumu Iwasa, Sargeant, and Doohan rounding out the top five. Pourchaire was in a great 6th place after starting 9th, just ahead of the championship leader.
Suddenly Drugovich started to get very slow and dropped several positions, but didn't pit. The next victim was Pourchaire, and soon after, the leaders Vips and Vesti also started to lose positions with impressive ease. The intermediate tires ran out in only seven laps.
Meanwhile, the group that started on slicks - including Fittipaldi - climbed the grid and appeared in the top positions: on lap 8, when the drivers who started on wet tires went into the boxers, Verschoor was first, followed by Daruvala, Merhi, Hauger, and Fittipaldi.
Positions re-established, Drugovich was only 18th. The only advantage for him was MP's better pit-stop work than that of rival ART, which made the Brazilian get back ahead of Pourchaire, even though he was out of the scoring zone.
On lap 13, once again the tires started to take the lead again: even with slicks, the drivers now on the lead also had to stop to change to medium compounds. However, the advantage was enough for the positions not to change, so that Verschoor remained at the top. Hauger was the worst off as he had a very bad psti-stop and ended up losing positions.
Meanwhile, Merhi remained in the top three, just behind Daruvala. In the last ten laps, he started to get considerably closer to Daruvala. With five laps to go, the Spaniard pulled back for good, staying under 1s, which had allowed the use of the mobile wing. Meanwhile, Verschoor was still firmly in the lead, managing the good lead of 7s that he had gained with a great sequence of fast laps after the stoppage.
In the last lap, Merhi overtook Daruvala, something completely unthinkable for the experienced driver in his race back to F2 after four years. But the joy was short-lived: the race management, ruthless, caught the overtaking once again and applied 5s as punishment to the final time. It was a pity, but it didn't take the shine off the Campos driver's race, even though the winner was Verschoor.
The Dutchman crossed the finish line first, but soon stopped in the exhaust area, raising suspicions that he had suffered a dry spell - and if so, he would be punished and lose the victory. Verschoor said it was a hydraulic problem, and the race management did not issue an alert about the investigation. His second win of the year, therefore, is still assured.
F2 2022, Austria, Spielberg, race 2, final result: