Oscar Piastri puts an impressive performance to win Sprint Race 2 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
The Formula 2 action in Saudi Arabia continued with the second Sprint Race of the weekend.
The red lights were out and the race started. Things became chaotic straightaway as a multi-car incident occurred in turn 1 – Guilherme Samaia, Alessio Deledda, Clement Novalak, and the Sprint Race 1 winner Marcus Armstrong were all out of the race. The Safety Car was deployed. At that moment, Jehan Daruvala led the race ahead of Oscar Piastri and Christian Lundgaard.
The racing action was resumed on lap 5. Daruvala nailed the restart and remained in front. Juri Vips lost the position to Felipe Drugovich in turn 27. However, things went from bad to even worse for the Hitech GP driver – he tried to overtake Drugovich on the main straight, but made a contact and damaged the car, ending his race. The Safety Car was back on the race track. During this sequence, Logan Sargeant’s race also came to a premature end.
The Safety Car left the track on lap 9. Piastri put pressure on Daruvala and the Carlin driver locked up his tires. However, he was still ahead after rejoining the track. The championship leader remained in the attacking distance. Right behind them, Lundgaard and Bent Viscaal had an intense battle for P3.
Daruvala’s race got a big upheaval as the stewards gave him a 5-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining the advantage. That did not stop Piastri as he looked to make a pass. Lundgaard was given the same penalty for a similar maneuver in the battle with Viscaal.
After several nerve-racking attempts, Piastri passed Daruvala in turn 27. However, the Indian came back to the lead on the main straight. Behind them, Viscaal battled with Robert Shwartzman.
Piastri finally managed to overtake Daruvala and stay in front of him on lap 17. Next lap, Liam Lawson hit the wall, forcing the third Safety Car of the race. The drivers crossed the checkered flag, which meant that Piastri won the race, going one step closer for the title. Viscaal and Shwartzman completed the podium after Daruvala’s and Lundgaard’s penalties.
The top 10 of the Formula 2 Sprint Race 2 in Jeddah:
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
1 | Oscar Piastri | PREMA Racing | 45:31.603 |
2 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | +2.521 |
3 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Racing | +3.371 |
4 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | +3.454 |
5 | Jack Doohan | MP Motorsport | +3.598 |
6 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | +3.661 |
7 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz Racing System | +3.879 |
8 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | +4.128 |
9 | Ralph Boschung | Campos Racing | +4.351 |
10 | Felipe Drugovich | UNI-Virtuosi | +4.619 |