MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich was promoted to pole for the FIA Formula 2 feature race at Monaco after Liam Lawson and Ayuma Iwasa were handed penalties.
Qualifying was split into two groups, with Carlin’s Lawson topping what proved to be the faster Group A session ahead of DAMS’s Iwasa. But some five hours later, both had their best times deleted, having set them under yellow flags, and also received grid-drops for the sprint race.
Championship leader Drugovich, who caused the yellow flags by crashing at the final corner, inherited pole having initially been third in Group A with a time quicker than Theo Pourchaire’s Group B-topping time.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes emerged unscathed from a heavy crash at the swimming pool which halted Group B’s session early.
Group A
Having headed Thursday’s free practice, Drugovich led the way for most of the first 15-minute session, posting a 1m21.795s before lowering his benchmark by over 0.6s. But, with seconds remaining, the Brazilian hit the wall at the final corner as he tried to improve further.
Lawson snatched top spot, with DAMS’s Ayuma Iwasa lapping 0.059s slower to move up to second. But, having been deemed to have slowed insufficiently for the yellow flags, Lawson was demoted to third in Group A and fifth for the feature race, and was also handed a five-place penalty for the sprint race. Iwasa was handed similar penalties, and will start both races outside of the top 10.
Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan was also investigated, but was deemed to have slowed significantly for the yellow flags. He therefore was classified second in the group ahead of Marcus Armstrong (Hitech GP) and Dennis Hauger (Prema) to take third on the feature race grid. Ralph Boschung was second early on behind Drugovich, but the Campos driver ended up sixth after brushing the barriers, leaving his car with a bent steering column.
Group B
It was a more open and less complicated affair in Group B, with Carlin’s Logan Sargeant leading the way early on with a 1m22.230s. Roy Nissany, whose only F2 podium came at Monaco last season, then shaved 0.052s off Sargeant’s time.
Prema’s Jehan Daruvala was the first driver from the group to lap under the 1m22s mark before Charouz’s Enzo Fittipaldi went 0.2s quicker with a 1m21.719s. Hitech’s Juri Vips lowered Fittipaldi’s benchmark by 0.1s, but the Estonian was denied top spot by Pourchaire, who logged a 1m21.535s before the red flags were brought out for Hughes’s shunt.
Pourchaire will start from second in the feature race, with Vips fourth, Fittipaldi sixth and Daruvala eighth. Hughes is due to start from 10th, despite the incident which caused significant damage to his car.
Featured image credit: @formula2 official twitter
