Disaster struck for Carlin’s Liam Lawson before the lights went out on the FIA Formula 2 Championship Feature Race at Monaco. The New Zealander stalled on the grid from P5 during the formation lap and was forced to start from the pit lane instead.
“Today in the Feature Race I had a stall so started from Pit Lane and then had a drive shaft break,” commented Lawson. “We haven’t confirmed that but we had a drive issue towards the end so we had to retire. Not a good weekend, especially as we were very very fast.”
Pole-sitter Felipe Drugovich made it three wins in four races to extend his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship. After a disappointing Sprint Race retirement, the MP Motorsport driver turned his fortunes around to hold off Théo Pourchaire in a race of attrition, as the pair ran their supersoft tyres for a whopping 22 laps around the challenging Monte Carlo streets.
A late gasp of pace from Jüri Vips wasn’t enough to bring him into the fight as the Hitech Grand Prix driver settled for third. Jack Doohan brought home another solid haul of points in fourth, ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi and Marcus Armstrong. While Lawson climbed through the field as high as 12th, he eventually retired from the race.
Another dominant performance by Felipe Drugovich has allowed the Brazilian driver to increase his tally in the Drivers’ Championship to 113 points, 32 points clear of his nearest rival Théo Pourchaire. Jehan Daruvala remains third ahead of Marcus Armstrong following the pair’s Sprint Race podiums, whilst Jüri Vips climbs up two places to fifth.
In the Teams’ Championship, MP Motorsport continue to lead the way on 135 points. ART Grand Prix stay second on 106, ahead of Hitech Grand Prix. PREMA Racing leap up to fourth following their 1-2 finish yesterday, as Carlin drop to fifth on 76 points.
Formula 2 will resume in just under two weeks’ time, as the drivers face another street circuit for the sixth round of the Championship – this time in Baku from June 10–12.
See also: Armstrong on F2 podium in Monaco
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