Felipe Drugovich put one hand onto the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship title on Sunday as he took victory at Circuit Zandvoort in a red-flag and safety car affected Feature race.
The Brazilian started from pole position and took his fourth Feature race victory of the season – his fifth win overall – to stretch his lead to sixty-nine points with just seventy-eight available.
Drugovich’s position was helped by main rival Théo Pourchaire enduring a difficult weekend that saw him score only two points, while Logan Sargeant and Jack Doohan both crashed out.
MP Motorsport’s Drugovich held onto the lead heading into turn one on lap one with Doohan slotting into second, but Sargeant ran wide and through the gravel trap at turn one, which put him towards the back of the field. He would only get to turn seven, however, when the Carlin driver clipped the back of Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung and struck the barrier.
Initially the safety car was deployed, behind which David Beckmann and Roy Nissany found time to collide with each other, but soon the red flag was needed due to required repairs to the barriers where Sargeant crashed out.
The race resumed with a rolling start, with Drugovich heading the field ahead of Doohan and Prema Racing’s Dennis Hauger, with the third placed Norwegian driver one of the first to pit for tyres on lap seven.
Doohan was keeping Drugovich honest but suffered a big flat spot on his tyre that required him to pit on lap twelve, with the race leader following a lap later. Trident’s Richard Verschoor made good gains to run a net third after his stop.
For those running the alternate strategy and hoping to go long before pitting for the soft tyre, Marino Sato’s retirement, caused by his left front tyre not being attached correctly to his car during his pit stop, ruined their afternoon.
The safety car was called upon again, with Carlin’s Liam Lawson leading the pack ahead Saturday’s Sprint race winner Marcus Armstrong and Frederik Vesti, but chaos was about to ensue on the restart, with the de facto race leader leaving it late before making his move.
As the field bunched up, Verschoor clipped Doohan and punted the unfortunate and blameless Virtuosi Racing driver into the barrier, while both Clément Novalak and Tatiana Calderón were also caught up in incidents and were also forced to retire.
The safety car was back on track immediately, and Lawson changed tactics on the next restart, making the early jump while Armstrong, Nissany and Boschung all made their mandatory pit stops immediately.
Pourchaire and Lawson then made their respective stops to give Drugovich back the race lead, with Verschoor, despite the contact with Doohan, up to second ahead of DAMS’ Ayuma Iwasa.
Drugovich took the chequered flag just over 2.4 seconds clear of Verschoor, while Iwasa took the final spot on the podium ahead of Hauger and the ever-impressive Enzo Fittipaldi, the Charouz Racing System driver staying out of trouble to take another top five result.
Equally impressive and taking his very first points finish in FIA Formula 2 was Van Amersfoort Racing’s Amaury Cordeel in sixth, the Belgian having by far his best performance of his rookie season, while Jüri Vips ended the day eighth for Hitech Grand Prix.
Beckmann ended eighth for Van Amersfoort Racing but was handed a post-race ten-second time penalty for his earlier contact with Nissany, promoting Campos Racing’s Olli Caldwell, who secured only his second top ten finish of the season, to eighth.
Pourchaire made good use of his soft tyres to get into the points, the ART Grand Prix driver taking ninth in the final standings, while Jehan Daruvala took a solitary point in tenth on what was a largely forgettable weekend for the Indian driver.
The penultimate round of the season takes place next weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, and Drugovich will having his first opportunity to clinch the title during the Sprint race on Saturday. It is surely now a case of when, rather than if, he clinches the championship in 2022.
Circuit Zandvoort Feature Race Result
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | 11 | Felipe Druogvich | BRZ | MP Motorsport | 1:25:22.484 |
| 2 | 20 | Richard Verschoor | NED | Trident | +2.405 |
| 3 | 17 | Ayuma Iwasa | JPN | DAMS | +3.645 |
| 4 | 1 | Dennis Hauger | NOR | Prema Racing | +6.947 |
| 5 | 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi | BRZ | Charouz Racing System | +7.987 |
| 6 | 25 | Amaury Cordeel | BEL | Van Amersfoort Racing | +10.872 |
| 7 | 8 | Jüri Vips | EST | Hitech Grand Prix | +12.400 |
| 8 | 14 | Olii Caldwell | GBR | Campos Racing | +14.609 |
| 9 | 10 | Théo Pourchaire | FRA | ART Grand Prix | +15.562 |
| 10 | 2 | Jehan Daruvala | IND | Prema Racing | +17.281 |
| 11 | 21 | Calan Williams | AUS | Trident | +18.499 |
| 12 | 5 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Carlin Racing | +20.264 |
| 13 | 24 | David Beckmann | GER | Van Amersfoort Racing | +23.196 |
| 14 | 7 | Marcus Armstrong | NZL | Hitech Grand Prix | +25.601 |
| 15 | 9 | Frederik Vesti | DEN | ART Grand Prix | +29.385 |
| 16 | 16 | Roy Nissany | ISR | DAMS | +37.144 |
| 17 | 15 | Ralph Boschung | CHE | Campos Racing | +50.639 |
| RET | 23 | Tatiana Calderón | COL | Charouz Racing System | Retired |
| RET | 12 | Clément Novalak | FRA | MP Motorsport | Retired |
| RET | 3 | Jack Doohan | AUS | Virtuosi Racing | Retired |
| RET | 4 | Marino Sato | JPN | Virtuosi Racing | Retired |
| RET | 6 | Logan Sargeant | USA | Carlin Racing | Retired |