Oscar Piastri moved closer to the FIA Formula 2 title with his fourth victory of the season in the second sprint race in Saudi Arabia.
The Prema driver passed polesitter Jehan Daruvala for the lead with four laps to go, with the race finishing behind the safety car after a late crash for Liam Lawson.
Daruvala led away at the start, while fellow front-row starter Bent Viscaal braked late into the first corner before running wide and brushing the wall on the exit, allowing Piastri to move up to second.
Two collisions behind into turn one caused the first of three safety car periods. Debutant Clement Novalak (MP Motorsport) took evasive action after braking too late, hitting the inside wall before collecting race one winner Marcus Armstrong (DAMS), putting both out. Gulherme Samaia (Charouz) and Ralph Boschung (Campos) also retired in a separate incident.
Piastri got a run at Daruvala at the restart, the latter locking up into turn one running off track, but retaining the lead on rejoining. This earned the Carlin driver a five-second penalty, which would ultimately prove costly.
A second safety car intervention soon followed after Hitech’s Juri Vips misjudged an overtaking attempt on Felipe Drugovich, tagging the back of the Virtuosi car before losing his front wing and sliding into the pitwall.
With a flatspotted tyre, Daruvala fought hard to stay in front when the action resumed again, briefly losing the lead to Piastri in the closing stages before regaining it on the pit straight.
But Piastri moved up the inside into turn one a lap later, before Lawson spun exiting the banked hairpin further back and tagged the wall. With little time to recover the stricken Hitech car, Piastri took the win behind the safety car. Daruvala was second on the road, but his 5s penalty dropped him out of the points to 14th.
The battle for the other podium places was just as dramatic. ART’s Christian Lundgaard passed Viscaal for third into turn one shortly after the second safety car period, but ran off track while completing the move, and was handed a 5s penalty. Viscaal twice tried to regain the place on the road, both times letting Lundgaard back through after not making the corner.
Lundgaard took the chequered flag in third, but his penalty dropped him to the back of the field in 15th. The penalties enabled Viscaal to move up to second, with Robert Shwartzman completing a double podium finish for Prema in third. Ticktum took fourth for Carlin, having been passed by Shwartzman during the race, while Jack Doohan finished an impressive fifth for MP Motorsport on his debut weekend in F2
After his crash in race one, ART’s Theo Pourchaire climbed from the back of the grid to sixth, ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi, who scored his best finish in seventh for Charouz. Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou recovered from 17th to finish eighth, ahead of Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung and Drugovich. HWA’sLogan Sergeant was another retirement after stopping on track during the second caution period.
Featured image credit: fiaformula2.com
