A Dutch F2 diary

**MASSIVE DISCLAIMER**
I watched the whole weekend from the race track and therefore have actually no idea what really happened. All I do know is that I had dinner at the same place as the BBC Chequered Flag team and was more excited about it than I should have been.

Practice: Parties for the red flags

In 2021’s weird calendar, F2 didn’t race at Zandvoort whereas F3 did, giving some drivers an advantage over the others when it came to track knowledge, not that it always showed (take that whichever way you like). David Beckmann led the way by ploughing into a gravel trap. He managed to get stuck long enough to bring out the red flags, but, in a repeat performance of Spa, he dug himself out again and was on his way. All too late though, because, as we know, there’s no stopping the red flag procedure. It was then time for a red flag party, courtesy of the limitless energy dished out by the on-track DJ.

The party was over quickly, as the session resumed, and then all the cars went neeeeooooooooooowwwww round the track for a bit, until Frederik Vesti crashed and we got another red flag party. In my mind the session didn’t resume, although proper places that wrote reports and were probably focussed on the track rather than dancing in a grandstand say that it did. I’ll let you choose who to believe (or maybe just read this instead). Jack Doohan was fastest, Ayumu Iwasa was second and Felipe Drugovich was third.

Qualifying: Celebrations for the seagulls

Just as all the cars were hitting the track for the start of Qualifying, so too were the seagulls, leading to a suspenseful few moments as the seagulls happily feasted on some delicious Dutch food (or a paper bag) while the sound of the F2 cars grew ever closer. The drivers and birds were unsuspecting, the crowd was tense. As Beckmann (or Amaury Cordeel) rounded the corner, there was a collective gasp from the crowd. Imminent bird death seemed likely. In the last moment, however, a divine intervention or basic survival instinct led to the birds taking to the sky. A cheer erupted in the grandstands and Qualifying could properly begin.

It wasn’t long until things were properly stopped again, thanks to Théo Pourchaire who crashed into a wall. After some more music, dancing and shouting time, the session restarted with all the cars rushing back out on track to go neeeeooowwwww even faster than in Practice. While Doohan and Drugovich battled it out over pole position, Jehan Daruvala battled it out with the barriers and another red flag party commenced.

There were four minutes left to go when Qualifying restarted. Drugovich was on provisional pole and out of his car, along with pretty much everyone else, thus avoiding any last minute excitement. Drugovich was fastest, while Doohan could only manage second and Logan Sargeant was third.

Sprint Race: Cheers for the track staff

Before the Sprint Race, we learned that Lando Norris has a side gig as a track sweeper, but he has to sweep the track backwards to ensure he doesn’t get any extra practice, which would make the other F1 drivers upset. Once it was all lovely and clean, Clément Novalak could take up his position on pole, with Marcus Armstrong second and Jüri Vips third.

The race start didn’t go so well for Novalak, who was promptly overtaken by Armstrong. Things went equally badly for Vips who was overtaken by Dennis Hauger and shortly after by Liam Lawson, dropping Vips from third to fifth. Further back, Daruvala was struggling again, getting in the gravel, but luckily managing to get out, while Olli Caldwell did something similar.

The race was then really boring, so I spent some time discussing with my neighbours about why I’m a George Russell fan and it turns out those were the same reasons why they weren’t George Russell fans. After a temporary hat exchange and some beers, attention turned back to the race.

While nothing had changed, there was now a perilous looking visor tear-off hanging out on track, looking ready to tangle itself in someone’s car at any moment. The tension was almost unbearable. That is until we were all distracted by Daruvala spinning, before getting going again, and then Tatiana Calderón also spinning, but without the getting going again part. The Safety Car was called with just three laps to go.

With just one (or two?) some laps to go, the Safety Car headed back into the pits and an exciting final lap shoot out looked promising, until it didn’t. Armstrong crossed the line to win, with Novalak second and Hauger third. Calderón followed on a flatbed truck with her broken car, then a fire truck that waved at everyone and then a bus came to collect all the marshals. We all cheered.

Feature Race: Champagne for Verschoor

As decided in Qualifying, championship leader Drugovich was on pole for the Feature Race, with Doohan second and Sargeant third. While the top two got away in order, Sargeant ended up going through the gravel and was soon last, leaving Hauger to once again take up third position. Sargeant’s woes didn’t end there as a few corners later he was in the barriers and the Safety Car was called. The barrier repair trucks were also called and if drivers usually complain about how slow the Safety Car goes I don’t know how they coped when they all got caught in a weird repair truck, Safety Car train. Maybe that’s why the red flag was soon called.

After some morning DJ party fun during the red flag, it was time for the race restart. Race Control decided it would be a rolling restart, which was boring and meant that nothing exciting happened. We missed the DJ. Then everyone did their pitstops, apart from home hero Richard Verschoor who stayed out a bit longer. Verschoor’s strategy seemed to work well for him as when he came out of the pits he had jumped up to third to the delight of all the Verschoor-hat wearing fans.

Marino Sato-hat wearing fans, however, were not cheering (does he have any hats?), as he was suddenly crashed in the barriers, seemingly not having all his wheels on properly after his pit stop. The Safety Car was called once more.

Confusion reigned at the restart and there were just lots of cries of “oooooo” and “ohhhhh” as several drivers hit each other. The result was that Doohan and Novalak were out of the race and the Safety Car was having another go.

When racing restarted once more, everything had taken so long that they gave up on the idea of doing the full number of laps and the clock counted down to Drugovich crossing the line to win the race. Verschoor followed in second, while Iwasa was third, apparently.

One hand on the championship trophy for Drugovich

An anonymous (probably, I don’t really remember everything) weekend for Pourchaire means that Drugovich fans can start getting a little bit excited. His 69 point lead over second-place Pourchaire means that Drugovich could win the championship this weekend at Monza (probably, I haven’t done the maths). Sargeant is still third (130 points), while Doohan is still fourth (121 points). Fifth place is an also unchanged Lawson (119 points). Exciting!