The six tales of Gianluca Petecof

With only one round of F2 and F3 completed, Matteo Nannini gave up his ambitious (i.e. expensive) attempt at competing in both series and withdrew from F2 ahead of the Monaco weekend. The balance was therefore restored, with F3 once more becoming a stepping stone to F2 and Jack Aitken returning to fill Nannini’s vacated seat at HWA, because F2 had been missing some of its familiar old faces (yes I’m nostalgic for the days of Ghiotto and Markelov).

Practice: Petecof and the engine

Despite it being many of the drivers’ first time in Monaco, speeding along the historic streets, knowing that one mistake could wreck their car and destroy their weekend, the most stressed person at the start of practice was probably commentator Alex Jacques, who was stuck in traffic. Apparently it wasn’t a problem to find another random person to commentate though, so everyone just rolled with it and we all pretended not to notice.

The first red flag of the session surprisingly wasn’t because someone over exuberantly hit the barriers, but actually because Marino Sato was just stopped. Then ten minutes later it was because Gianluca Petecof’s engine broke in major style. Probably also broken was the laptop belonging to the guy from Petecof’s team, Campos, who slammed it down on the table when he saw the clouds of smoke filling the streets. Another ten minutes later and Bent Viscaal became the first to hit the walls, but the Monaco marshals are so used to this they managed to fix everything under a Virtual Safety Car. By the time the green flag was out again there were only ten minutes to go and it was all getting a bit crowded, but Robert Shwartzman managed a super fast lap, followed by Dan Ticktum second and Jüri Vips in third.

Qualifying: Petecof and the 19th place

To avoid the full chaos of historical feeder series Monaco qualifyings, qualifying was split into two groups (odd car numbers versus evens) and there was a ballot to decide which group went first. Pole position would go to the fastest driver (obviously), while second place would go to the fastest driver from the other group, and so the grid would be formed by alternating positions between the two groups. Each group got only 15 minutes, only adding to the stress/fun (depending on who you are).

Group A was the even numbered cars of Piastri, Drugovich, Daruvala, Vips, Pourchaire, Zendeli, Beckmann, Nissany, Petecof (whose team managed to fix his car after the engine blow-up in practice just a few hours earlier), Aitken and Viscaal. Despite only having a tiny amount of time to qualify and red flags always being an imminent threat at Monaco, no one bothered to set any representative times until five minutes before the end, when Théo Pourchaire decided to go for it. Then Felipe Drugovich went even faster, despite literally hitting the barriers on his way round. Then it was Vips. They were all soon flying round on great laps, until Drugovich hit some traffic and Vips hit something hard, bending his steering. That just left Pourchaire, who stormed the Monaco streets and set a time half a second faster than anyone else.

Group B was all the rest (Shwartzman, Zhou, Ticktum, Lawson, Lundgaard, Verschoor, Samaia, Armstrong, Boschung, Deledda, Sato) and probably feeling pretty confident about their chances, given that the track usually only improves in time and that this was arguably the more competitive group, with all the F2 veterans. They also opted to avoid doing any actually good laps until five minutes before the end. Ticktum was the first to put in a good lap, shortly followed by Shwartzman, but they were both a second off Pourchaire’s time. As time ticked down, something amazing happened (by Monaco standards, because let’s face it, it’s usually quite predictable), the track didn’t evolve, the times didn’t start tumbling, and suddenly the chequered flag was out and Pourchaire’s Group A qualifying time was pole position. On a side note, being in the “fast group” was Petecof’s only bit of good luck for the whole weekend, making him 19th instead of 20th.

Shock all round, and disappointment for Group B who were suddenly all shuffled down the grid. Joining Pourchaire on the front row was Shwartzman, with Oscar Piastri in third (special thanks to the F2 people for not bothering to work the final combined qualifying positions out for us). Luckily someone worked it out for the press conference as we had the proper top three in the room, although they should have just held it on the podium or something, it would have been more fitting for Pourchaire’s Oscars-style speech, thanking everyone he knew, including Sauber, who inexplicably still have a driver academy.

Sprint Race 1: Petecof and the smashed up car

If working out who had qualified where wasn’t enough brain work for you, the grid for the first Sprint Race was the top 10 combined qualifying results, reversed. That obviously meant Zhou was on pole position, Drugovich second and Christian Lundgaard third. Alessio Deledda who had failed to be within the 107% qualifying time (designed to ensure people who are too slow don’t get to be in races) was also allowed to start, naturally. Maybe the race stewards decided learning how to lap people is an important part of a young F2 driver’s training.

Zhou and Lundgaard both had good starts, while Drugovich did not, as he dropped behind Lundgaard into third place. Everyone else was very polite and professional, except Shwartzman (starting ninth) who broke his front wing by ramming it into the wall sideways. He then proceeded to apologise profusely to his team, drop by the pits for a new nose, trundle round a bit and then retire, having totally fucked races 1 and 2 within a few minutes. He must be loving this new format.

Quite a few laps in and nothing was happening, but thankfully F2 car manufacturer Dallara brought the drama in the form of much smoke coming out of the back of Lundgaard’s car. He didn’t let this stop him, despite complaints from the other drivers as oil and smoke spewed out behind him. Eventually though, he had no choice but to pull over and retire, to join Shwartzman in the misery club. This promoted Drugovich to second and Roy Nissany up to third.

Back in 10th and 11th place, something was actually happening. Jehan Daruvala was having an intense battle with Marcus Armstrong, who was trying to steal the last points and reverse grid pole for the next race. When I say intense, I mean Armstrong was trying hard but couldn’t get past, but let’s just pretend it was thrilling.

Petecof must also have got bored because he crashed into the wall and broke his whole wheel off, causing a Safety Car. The incident meant that Zhou’s huge eight second lead was now destroyed. Let’s also pretend that was thrilling.

The Safety Car was in, with only three laps left of the race. Zhou somehow managed to keep everyone behind him at the restart (I’m sure the massive barriers on either side had nothing to do with it). By now, lots of people were struggling for grip, which might have been really exciting, but it kind of wasn’t. Sato was apparently struggling the most, as he crashed, ending his race in the barriers. Daruvala probably thought he had done enough to end his race in the coveted tenth spot, but Armstrong had other ideas and barged past him at the last corner on the last lap (of course we didn’t actually get to see it, thanks Monaco TV director), it sounded thrilling though. Daruvala was obviously gutted, however the podium was happy faces all round. UNI-Virtuosi with their 1-2 of Zhou and Drugovich were very celebratory, but even they couldn’t rival Nissany on his smile. He looked so happy it actually made me like him. I would like to see more Nissany podium happiness.

Sprint Race 2: Petecof and the wall

The grid for Sprint Race 2 was formed by reversing the top 10 from Sprint Race 1, which basically would have just been the original qualifying results if it hadn’t been for Lundgaard’s car breaking and Shwartzman breaking his car, therefore changing the order a bit. As it was, Armstrong was on pole, after his last minute overtake on Daruvala, while Liam Lawson was second and Piastri third. Except that Armstrong never made it to the grid. Instead his car broke and he had to start from the pitlane. Probably wondering why he even bothered. Another surprise was that it had actually rained overnight, the track was damp and promising some sort of chaos. Just because the rule makers like to mess with everyone, there are no intermediate tyres in F2, so they were all forced to start on wet tyres instead. Lovely.

Piastri made a good start and managed to jump Lawson for the lead. Ticktum, who had started de facto fourth, was also suddenly there, having passed Pourchaire, but couldn’t quite make it past Lawson and had to settle into third place. At the back somewhere, Petecof was in the wall again having had a little nudge from Sato, while a few laps later Armstrong was also out, his car apparently not wanting to bother with today either. At least Petecof and Armstrong could hang out together during the race and trade bad luck stories.

It seems like some drama happened after the VSC caused by Armstrong’s retirement, as Drugovich’s name could suddenly be seen tumbling down the timing screen from eight to twelfth, but in true Monaco TV director fashion, we did not see that. I still have no idea what happened. I will forgive it though, because what we did see was Lawson pressuring Piastri, to the point where Piastri was getting all flustered and then Lawson just pushed his way through in an AMAZING very un-Monaco-esque style. Lawson then disappeared off in the lead of the race, leaving the struggling Piastri to deal with Ticktum, who had been looking unfazed by the terrifyingness of Monaco all weekend and didn’t take long at all to get past Piastri for second place.

While actual awesome racing was happening at the front, there was a lot of ridiculousness happening at the back, as everyone fought to be last. Samaia went off into the run off area at turn 1, before making it back onto the track, having lost all his places. Then Sato did the same but couldn’t make it back so a VSC had to be called to rescue him. Then Zhou and Drugovich both pitted to change from their wet tyres to some dry tyres, drove around a bit and decided it was too hard so went back in to put wet tyres on again, firmly cementing themselves as last in the race. Good work UNI-Virtuosi, from a 1-2 at the front to a 1-2 at the back. Lundgaard also made an attempt to be last, by following Samaia and Sato’s lead into the turn 1 run off, but he couldn’t keep the car going and the last we saw of him was a sad attempt at reversing before his name was greyed out on the timing screen and he just showed as “out”.

In the middle of the field, fighting over sixth, we had what Alex Brundle so eloquently described as “the chaos train” of Boschung, Nissany, Daruvala and Verschoor. First up, Verschoor apparently overtook Daruvala, although we never saw that of course. Then Nissany passed Boschung, but did so by cutting the chicane. Fearful of the wrath of the stewards, Nissany was trying to give the place back to Boschung but Verschoor and Daruvala were right there ready to pounce when he did. It all looked very dramatic for a moment, but Nissany somehow managed to let Boschung squeeze past, before shutting the door to Verschoor and keeping seventh place. Verschoor then tried to pass Nissany, but he also cut the chicane and had to dance around trying to give the place back. Nissany then threw it all away by crashing into the wall and everyone went past him.

Seeing all this excitement happening behind him must have made Vips realise that it’s allowed to overtake at Monaco, because he went for it on Pourchaire in a lovely move for fourth place. Meanwhile, Viscaal did a less lovely move on David Beckmann, crashing into him from behind and causing a Safety Car.

The whole race had taken so ridiculously long that we were now on a countdown, with only three minutes left by the time the Safety Car came in. Lawson managed the restart and last couple of laps perfectly, bringing the car home to win the race, with Ticktum in second and Piastri third. It was smiles all round until shortly after the race, when Lawson was disqualified for having the wrong throttle mapping at the start (yes of course I know what that means, and no I’m not going to explain it), except who knows what Lawson’s actual reaction was because the whole thing was just casually mentioned in the intro to the Feature Race. No big deal. As a result, Ticktum was promoted to first place, Piastri second and Vips third.

Feature Race: Petecof and the penalties

In case (like me) you had forgotten what happened in qualifying, it was Pourchaire on pole, Shwartzman (remember him?) second and Piastri third. While everyone set off on their formation lap, Petecof was being told that he now needed to start from the pitlane because, before the race, he had exited the pitswhen the red light was on. Seriously, why did Petecof even bother coming to Monaco? His start was only mildly more depressing than Jack Aitken’s, who stalled on the grid, although mysteriously did appear in the race. The top three, however, made a good start, all maintaining their positions and keeping all bits of their cars intact. Although apparently “Lap 1, Turn 1” had a less successful start, as it was under investigation. Naughty Lap 1, Turn 1.

In the early laps of the race, it was black and orange flags galore, as both Zendeli and Daruvala were flagged down and told to go fix broken bits of their cars, effectively ending any chances they had of scoring points. Daruvala managed to compound that issue by speeding in the pitlane when he came in and getting hit with a five-second penalty, and then Petecof managed to compound that issue by crashing into Daruvala. Daruvala was finally out of the race and Petecof got a ten-second time penalty, which normally he would have deserved but CAN SOMEONE GIVE HIM A BREAK PLEASE!?!?

While they were all pitting to fix their cars, Drugovich, who was one of very few on the alternative tyre strategy, came in for his mandatory pitstop. While we watched the pitstops play out, there was much TV commentator discussion over who would be doing what tyre strategy on who, but ultimately only Drugovich achieved any tyre strategy magic, having jumped Boschung thanks to the undercut and Shwartzman thanks to his terribly slow pitstop and a bit of overtaking that we never saw. Thanks Monaco TV director.

Another thing we never saw was why Lundgaard was given a five-second penalty. Maybe they just randomise it when they think the race might be dull. Thanks Race Control.

Eventually, everyone had pitted apart from race leader Zhou, who was probably considering it, except that Armstrong was suddenly in the wall at Rascasse, having been pushed there by Vips, and a VSC was called. Given that you’re not allowed to take you mandatory pitstop during a VSC, Zhou had to stay out a bit longer. Then, just as the VSC ended, Zendeli locked up and crashed into the wall at Rascasse, leading to another VSC and a few more laps on old tyres for Zhou.

As the second VSC ended, Ticktum was pressurising Piastri for what would now be net second place (after Zhou pitted), following Shwartzman’s earlier demise. Déjà vu anyone? It was actually exciting. Piastri made a mistake and locked up, leaving Ticktum with an opportunity to make a move. He did, but sadly the move was straight into the wall at Rascasse (seriously, is anyone going to give the marshals at Rascasse a break!?), as he literally ran out of track trying to complete the overtake. Actual Monaco excitement, side-by-side racing, over in a flash. Ticktum was gutted and “really, really sorry.” I was also gutted and really really sorry, because Ticktum was the most exciting thing that happened all weekend.

After Ticktum’s car was cleared away and the VSC ended, there were just a few laps left of the race and Zhou was finally free to come in for his pitstop, allowing Pourchaire to regain his lead, with Piastri in second and Drugovich (DRUGOVICH!?!? That alternative strategy really did work out for him) in third. In the closing laps of the race, all everyone had to do was hold it together to the end, easy. Easy for everyone except Petecof, who despite having already had the black and white flag warning for track limits quite some time ago, apparently couldn’t help himself, as he cut some corner and was given a five-second penalty. PLEASE NO MORE GIANLUCA!

Pourchaire, however, made no mistakes and became the youngest ever F2 winner (he’s only 17 ffs) and only driver to win an F2 race and look like he just won an F1 championship. Good thing he and Nissany weren’t on the podium together, might have been too much happiness. Luckily Piastri balanced out Pourchaire’s overexcited happy by looking more downbeat. He said he was very happy, but maybe his face was contemplating how he managed to get overtaken a load of times in the weekend, despite it being impossible to overtake at Monaco.

Championship Standings: Petecof and the last place

It’s probably no surprise that the weekend’s race winners are all now up in the top five of the championship standings, with Zhou still in the lead (68), Piastri’s consistency paying off for second (52 points), Pourchaire now up to third (47 points), Ticktum in fourth (38 points) and Lawson dropping down to fifth after having his win stripped from him (36 points). Everyone else is VERY close behind, and when I say everyone I mean several people, not including Petecof who is last, somehow even behind Deledda.

Roll on Azerbaijan CHAOS in a couple of weeks.