Verschoor Wins First F2 Race of 2022 in Dominant Fashion

Trident’s Richard Verschoor won the opening race of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 season with a dominant drive in Saturday’s Sprint Race, with the win becoming Trident’s first in the modern Formula 2 era.

PREMA Racing’s Jehan Daruvala and Carlin’s Liam Lawson completed the podium in a thrilling race which saw battles throughout the field from start to finish.

The pole-sitter, Felipe Drugovich had a nightmare start, being swallowed by the field and eventually dropping down to as low as seventh on the opening lap. Verschoor started alongside him on the grid and entered the lead where he stayed for the entirety of the race.

Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung was hot on the Dutch drivers heels, sticking close to him until he ran into some tyre troubles. Daruvala made the most of the Swiss drivers troubles, overtaking him with five laps to go before setting his sights on the leader.

Lawson spent most of the race with Drugovich on his gearbox with the Brazilian trying everything he could to get past the Carlin driver in the DRS zones.

The Kiwi’s defence was impenetrable, holding onto the position before taking advantage of Boschung’s troubles to take the final podium position.

The race saw four retirements with Hitech Grand Prix’s Marcus Armstrong being the first on lap three. He was tapped and span around by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes at turn eight and couldn’t keep the car running.

The Brit was handed a ten second penalty but also found himself retiring later on due to contact with MP Motorsport’s Clément Novalak at turn one who was handed a ten second penalty for the incident.

ART Grand Prix’s Théo Pourchaire got off to a great start, making his way up to fifth place by the end of lap one from ninth on the grid. Unfortunately, his race was cut short due to an oil leak which sprang after the first Safety Car ended on lap five.

Ayumu Iwasa had a superb race after starting from the back of the grid due to an early retirement in Friday’s Qualifying session. The DAMS driver made up fourteen positions over the twenty-three lap race to finish in eighth position in his F2 debut.

After a thrilling season opener, it is onto Sunday’s Feature Race for the next bit of Formula 2 action. Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan is on pole position as he looks to grab the most amount of points available in a race for this year’s format.

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	TIME
1	20	Richard Verschoor	NLD	Trident	43:34.983
2	2	Jehan Daruvala	IND	PREMA Racing	+1.853
3	5	Liam Lawson	NZL	Carlin	+4.975
4	15	Ralph Boschung	CHE	Campos Racing	+6.981
5	11	Felipe Drugovich	BRA	MP Motorsport	+8.801
6	6	Logan Sargeant	USA	Carlin	+9.263
7	8	Jüri Vips	EST	Hitech Grand Prix	+13.350
8	17	Ayumu Iwasa	JPN	DAMS	+15.749
9	1	Dennis Hauger	NOR	PREMA Racing	+17.665
10	3	Jack Doohan	AUS	Virtuosi Racing	+21.472
11	22	Enzo Fittipaldi	BRA	Charouz Racing System	+22.902
12	16	Roy Nissany	ISR	DAMS	+26.574
13	9	Frederick Vesti	DNK	ART Grand Prix	+27.490
14	23	Cem Bölükbasi	TUR	Charouz Racing System	+31.921
15	21	Calan Williams	AUS	Trident	+49.959
16	4	Marino Sato	JPN	Virtuosi Racing	+50.640
17	25	Amaury Cordeel	BEL	Van Amersfoort Racing	+52.671
18	12	Clément Novalak	FRA	MP Motorsport	+78.205
19	14	Olli Caldwell	GBR	Campos Racing	RET
20	24	Jake Hughes	GBR	Van Amersfoort Racing	RET
21	10	Théo Pourchaire	FRA	ART Grand Prix	RET
22	7	Marcus Armstrong	NZL	Hitech Grand Prix	RET

F2 Sakhir: Sprint Race Classification