Podium was possible says Novalak after cutting through Barcelona pack

Clément Novalak says MP Motorsport could have enjoyed a double podium if things had gone his way in the Barcelona Feature Race.

While teammate Felipe Drugovich claimed his second victory of the weekend, Novalak had a race of two halves on Sunday, and believes he missed out on a podium in the process.

Starting from P12, he opted for the alternative strategy of starting on the hard tyres and swapping to the soft Pirelli tyres later. The Frenchman believes getting stuck behind Enzo Fittipaldi in the opening stint was a costly moment that prevented him appearing on the final rostrum.

READ MORE: Lawson playing to his strengths with Barcelona Feature Race fightback

“I was a little bit angry because I got a decent start, got in front of (Enzo) Fittipaldi, and then he tried a pretty crazy move down the inside of Turn 10," Novalak said after the race. "So we got back behind him. Then that hindered our progress because everybody's got very similar pace on the hards until you hit that cliff. I had to wait to make my move until he did hit that cliff.

“I think we probably boxed a couple of laps too late for softs, because they held on extremely well. But in the end, those are the tiny margins that I think could have got us the podium today. But starting from P12 and finishing P5, I can be happy with that. And at least I got to make a couple of moves, Danny Ric style.”

After his mandatory pit stop, Novalak fought from the mid-pack into the points, passing rivals almost every lap until the end. Of his multiple overtakes, a dive down the inside of Liam Lawson for sixth brought the most satisfaction after hunting the Carlin driver down over multiple laps.

“I think the one on (Liam) Lawson was pretty good. Or the one on (Jüri) Vips as well. (I'd) just come out of the pits so of course I had better tyres. To be honest, I was a bit surprised at how much Liam fought because I think the pace was so much better on the softs that you're sort of hindering yourself by doing that. But it was a good race.

"The pace was just really strong. You can see with Felipe (Drugovich) on the softs, he lasted 10 more laps than anybody else and managed to consistently be much quicker and I think we were not too far off of Felipe’s pace in the end. That’s the problem with starting 12th so I’ve got to work on quali.”

That Qualifying pace will need to come immediately with Formula 2 visiting Monaco for the next round of the 2022 Championship. Starting position around the Principality is, of course, critical to a driver's chances.

It's a race Novalak has been anticipating for quite some time, having last raced around the famed streets back during his Formula Renault days in 2018.

He's hardly put off by his relative inexperience at Monaco in recent seasons. In fact, the MP Motorsport driver is hoping for a challenge come Saturday and Sunday's races.

“It’s the whole event, not just a race. It's pretty historic. I did race there in Formula Renault so I have a little bit of background at the track, but it was four years ago. These cars are 10-12 seconds faster, at least, but I think it'll be cool. Hopefully it rains a little bit, that's always spices it up.”