Is there anyone who can actually stay on the track?
The Austrian weekend started badly for Ralph Boschung who withdrew before anything even happened due to his apparently relentless neck issues. While Ralph did all the doctors appointments or whatever, he asked Roberto Merhi to step in “to drive the MoonMobile” and, quite frankly, if I were in that situation I would also hand over my car to an ex-F1 driver. In Amaury Cordeel news, he was back after his Silverstone ban and with a clean slate, free to start collecting penalty points again.
Practice: Warning for track limits
It wasn’t long into the practice session before something went wrong for someone, that someone being Calan Williams whose car was broken and stopped at the edge of the track. Still, it gave Race Control the opportunity to test the Virtual Safety Car. After that, everyone drove around having their lap times deleted for going over track limits, until Enzo Fittipaldi found himself in the gravel trap and there was a red flag.
Five minutes later the session was resumed and they continued to have lap times deleted and take little excursions through the gravel traps until the end when they went to do practice starts on the grid instead, except for Olli Caldwell who broke down.
At the end, those who had managed not to have times deleted and had stayed out of the gravel best, were Jake Hughes, Théo Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti.
Qualifying: Black and white flag for track limits
Everyone had a go at being fastest in qualifying, with Felipe Drugovich going fastest, then Logan Sargeant, then Jack Doohan, then Sargeant again until his lap time was deleted and he was seventh. At the opposite end of the timing sheet, Vesti had his only time deleted for ignoring track limits and was last.
At the halfway point, Doohan was fastest, Drugovich second and Jüri Vips third, while Vesti was still last.
Before everyone else had come out for their second round of qualifying laps, Van Amersfoort Racing decided to send both their drivers out to avoid the crowds. It looked good. Hughes got up to second place and then Cordeel went second, and then Hughes had his lap time deleted and was tenth, then Drugovich, Doohan and finally Vesti went faster. The fast laps continued to be banked (and deleted) until at the end. Once the timing board had shuffled about a bit, it was one-lap Vesti on pole, Vips second and Sargeant third.
At the press conference, Vesti was pleased about his first F2 pole, Vips was frustrated to have missed out on pole, but said his main focus this year was becoming a better person, and Sargeant was also frustrated to have missed pole, but was basically happy that he didn’t get his times deleted.
Sprint Race: Five-second time penalty for track limits
F1TV didn’t bother to begin the broadcast before the start of the Formation Lap (thanks F1TV) but Liam Lawson appeared to be rolled off to the pit lane for some reason, while Marcus Armstrong, Théo Pourchaire and Richard Verschoor were starting from the top three spots.
Armstrong got a good start, while Verschoor did not, and then there was so much overtaking that the whole grid just scrambled, leaving Armstrong and Pourchaire still first and second, Doohan third, Verschoor fourth and championship leader Drugovich fifth.
After my screaming “THIS IS JUST TOO MUCH” at the TV and struggling to understand what was happening while they all drove three-wide round the first lap, the excitement quota was apparently all used up. There was some respite from the un-eventfulness, as Cem Bölükbasi pulled into the pits to retire, Vesti got a five-second penalty for going over track limits and Lawson’s car stopped. The Virtual Safety Car came out for a moment and Lawson complained “Oh my God,” before slowly getting going and managing to trundle round to the edge of the pit lane. Then Bölükbasi un-retired and drove about at the back.
The rest of the race was nothing but track-limits penalties (Caldwell, Cordeel and Merhi), until the end when Merhi’s MoonMobile broke down and Armstrong won. Pourchaire was second and Doohan third, just like lap one. Inexplicably, Mark Webber, David Coulthard and Mick Doohan (Jack’s motorbike legend dad) were also on the podium. They all celebrated together and looked happy.
Feature Race: Ten-second time penalty for track limits
It was a damp day in Austria, it had rained, the tarmac that ran through the Austrian hills was wet, and the racing drivers that gathered in the valleys were confused. Wet tyres, or slicks? The age-old conundrum that had puzzled many a young F2 driver as they looked on at the F1 paddock asking “Why can’t we have intermediate tyres?” The solution? To start on all of the tyres. So the grid was a mix of wet tyres at the front and softer and harder slicks at the back. Great news for pole position man Vesti, particularly as the dry line that was starting to emerge was very much on the other side of the grid to his starting slot.
Indeed, the wet track was a disadvantage for all those starting in the even-numbered spaces and Vips managed to jump straight into the lead, with Ayumu Iwasa taking second (from starting in fourth). Vesti was down to third and Sargeant fourth. Vesti didn’t take it lying down though and soon fought back to second place, with Sargeant also soon making his was past Iwasa. After the wet/dry mix jumbled up the start order, there were bits of overtaking all over the place until a Safety Car was called, as Armstrong went wide and got spun off by Bölükbasi while trying to get back on track. “Bleeeeeeeeep, bleeeeeeeeeeeep” was Armstrong’s message to his team. Interpret that how you will. Bölükbasi headed to the pits for a new front wing.
As the Safety Car came in, the track was clearly drying, although no one (other than Cordeel) wanted to take the chance to pit for slicks as the window for when you can make your mandatory pit stop had not yet opened. So instead of taking an extra stop, all those on wets were desperately waiting until the earliest opportunity when they could combine their move to slick tyres with their mandatory pit stop. The result was Verschoor, who had started slicks, overtaking everyone and speeding off in the lead while all those on wet tyres dove into the pits as soon as was allowed under the rules. The top three were now Verschoor, Daruvala and Merhi (who had started basically last).
There was so much overtaking and pit stopping action happening it was hard to keep up, but the slick tyre runners soon started pitting and apparently had pulled out a big enough gap to those who struggled round on the wet tyres for ages that they were able to pit and still come out ahead (I’m going to assume it wasn’t just me that was having issues keeping up because I don’t think they even showed race leader Verschoor’s pit stop…). After all the tyre changes were done, the top three remained as Verschoor, Daruvala and Merhi, which makes it all sound a lot calmer than it was.
While it was looking pretty bad for those who had started the race on wet tyres (particularly Vesti who was given a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage and a fifteen-second time penalty for ignoring track limits), the one exception was Sargeant, who was busy fighting his way back through the field and was up to fifth behind Liam Lawson. Being teammates apparently made no difference to the Carlin drivers and Sargeant and Lawson proceeded to attempt to punt each other off the track, until Sargeant won and flew by Lawson, taking Fittipaldi with him. Lawson was relegated from fourth to sixth in one corner and then got a fifteen-second time penalty for ignoring track limits to add to his misery.
Also getting time penalties for track limits indiscretions, was Jack Doohan and he was not happy about it. After complaining extensively about the news of his five-second penalty, the additional ten-second time penalty was accompanied by cries of “Show me the video!” Cut to the TV director showing a replay of him going off track. While it was seemingly impossible to beat Doohan’s level of rage over his penalty, Iwasa somehow managed to top it following the news of his own track limits violations with a full-on Yuki Tsunoda-esque rage scream.
Up front, Verschoor looked like he had a firm grasp of the lead, while Daruvala was looking like his grasp of second place was much more shaky. After getting the ex-F1 driver the pressure for a few laps, Daruvala made a bit of a mistake and Merhi was into second. His 2010s-era F1 knowledge couldn’t help him against the new, less liberal, stewarding though and Merhi soon also had a five-second time penalty for going over track limits.
Verschoor crossed the line to take his first F2 Feature Race victory before pulling to the side of the track and having to be picked up by the Safety Car. Merhi crossed the line in second, with Daruvala third, but then after Merhi’s penalty was applied he dropped down the order and Sargeant was promoted to the last step of the podium.
Just as everyone thought the celebrations were over, the F2 organisers decided to introduce a new feature, whereby those who were on the podium had to take part in the “Wheel of F2 Podium Fortune”. Verschoor was first to spin and got struck by the “not enough fuel left to take a sample” penalty and was disqualified. Daruvala then stepped up for his spin and landed on “mechanic tried to dry the track surface on the grid before the race” and was given a 20-second time penalty. Sargeant gingerly stepped up for his turn, but was soon excited to see the wheel stop on “allowed to keep position” and not only that, but because of Verschoor and Daruvala’s misfortunes, he was now the winner of the race. That was the end of the fun and Fittipaldi was promoted to second and Merhi was back on the podium in third, much to Merhi, Ralph Boschung’s and my delight. Read the lovely social media messages between them. It’s enough to make you believe for a moment that there is good in the world.
Track limits championship standings
The winner of most track limits warnings this weekend was… I have no clue, there were so many thousands of them.
In the real championship, Drugovich is so far ahead (with 154 points) it doesn’t even matter that he barely featured this weekend. Pourchaire’s valiant effort to catch up barely made a dent, in fact he has now been eclipsed by “Wheel of F2 Podium Fortune” winner Sargeant, who is up to second (115 points, with Pourchaire on 114 points). Daruvala (80 points) managed to cling on to fourth, despite his misfortunes, while Little Shark Enzo Fittipaldi is now fifth (75 points).
We get a one-week break until France, when the battle for second in the championship will continue…