Guanyu Zhou took a lights-to-flag win in the opening FIA Formula 2 sprint race of the weekend at Monaco, with Virtuosi claiming a one-two finish.
The Alpine F1 junior benefitted from the reverse-grid format – having been 10th in Thursday’s qualifying – to take his second F2 win in a row, leading home team-mate Felipe Drugovich and DAMS driver Roy Nissany.
Nissany’s team-mate Marcus Armstrong took a dramatic reversed-grid pole for Saturday’s second sprint race after passing Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala for 10th with two corners of the race remaining.
The two Virtuosi cars started on the front-row, with Zhou leading away from pole at the start while team-mate Felipe Drugovich was passed for second by ART’s Chrisitian Lundgaard.
Prema’s Robert Shwartzman, who topped Thursday’s free practice and qualified on the front-row for the feature race, hit the barriers through Casino Square on the opening lap and retired with damage shortly afterwards.
Zhou opened up a two-second lead early on before his closest pursuer hit problems, with Lundgaard pulling out a half-distance after smoke started to come from the rear of his car due to a suspected oil leak.
That promoted Drugovich back into second behind his team-mate but, after building an eight-second lead, Zhou’s advantage was eradicated by a late safety car period when Campos Racing’s Gianluca Petecof crashed into the barriers.
Zhou kept his cool at the restart to lead the remaining four laps, finishing 2.3s ahead of Drugovich, with Williams F1 reserve driver Nissany taking his first F2 podium finish in third.
Ralph Boschung was fourth for Campos, while Hitech’s Juri Vips resisted late pressure from Carlin’s Dan Ticktum to finish fifth, but faces a stewards’ investigation for a safety car period infringement.
Youngest ever F2 pole winner Theo Pourchaire – who will start at the front in Saturday’s feature race – was seventh for ART, ahead of his 2020 FIA F3 title rival Oscar Piastri for Prema.
Hitech’s Liam Lawson climbed from 12th on the grid to finish ninth, while Armstrong snatched the all-important 10th place from Daruvala at La Rascasse on the final lap.
Trident’s Marino Sato was a late retirement after crashing at Sainte Devote. Jack Aitken was 16th for HWA on his F2 return, but struggled physically during the race, his late call-up giving him little time to prepare.
Race result (30 laps)
| 1 | Guanyu Zhou | Virtuosi | 44m21.272s |
| 2 | Felipe Drugovich | Virtuosi | +2.396s |
| 3 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | +5.909s |
| 4 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | +7.430s |
| 5 | Juri Vips | Hitech | +11.007s |
| 6 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | +11.495s |
| 7 | Theo Pourchaire | ART | +13.247s |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | Prema | +15.247s |
| 9 | Liam Lawson | Hitech | +17.514s |
| 10 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | +18.947s |
| 11 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | +19.290s |
| 12 | David Beckmann | Charouz | +19.546s |
| 13 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | +19.915s |
| 14 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | +20.234s |
| 15 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | +20.755s |
| 16 | Jack Aitken | HWA | +21.168s |
| 17 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz | +21.873s |
| 18 | Alessio Deledda | HWA Racelab | +1 lap |
| 19 | Marino Sato | Trident | +2 laps |
| DNF | Gianluca Petecof | Campos | |
| DNF | Christian Lundgaard | ART | |
| DNF | Robert Shwartzman | Prema |
Featured image credit: @formula2 official twitter
