The title picture becomes clear in Monte Carlo: F2 Weekend Wrap-Up

The lead of the Drivers’ Championship changed twice across the Monte Carlo race weekend as an action-filled Round 6 of the season continued to provide twists and turns throughout.

With a third of the season already gone, the title fight is beginning to take shape. Here is the Monte Carlo weekend wrapped up, team by team.

BACK-TO-BACK

For the second race weekend running, it was a PREMA Racing driver who stood atop the podium as this time, Frederik Vesti secured Feature Race glory around the streets of the Principality. The Dane claimed pole on Saturday with a formidable lap against Théo Pourchaire, somewhat of a Monaco specialist. It was a big win in the title race as it propelled Vesti to the top of the pile. While his points-scoring streak ended with P9 in the Sprint, 27 points (two extra for pole position) was more than enough to leapfrog Pourchaire and Ayumu Iwasa to lead the Formula 2 standings for the first time.

Across the garage, Oliver Bearman’s race weekend was all but over before it got started. Stuck down the order after a Red Flag prevented the Briton from making any last-minute improvement in Group A. From that point on, he was fighting with an arm behind his back but made great progress in the Sprint, on the cusp of a fight for points following a climb up the order in the opening laps. An ill-timed Safety Car and Red Flag curtailed that charge though. Heading to Spain, PREMA looks to be firing on all cylinders leading both Championships and with three wins in the last four races.

HIGH POINTS AND LOW MOMENTS

Théo Pourchaire entered Monte Carlo with a three-point advantage over Vesti at the top of the Championship but left with a five-point deficit. That said, the Frenchman was satisfied with his efforts after driving the whole weekend not feeling 100% due to illness. Almost clinching pole and maintaining his record of never finishing outside the top two in a Monte Carlo Feature Race is hardly a poor effort then. What’s more, Pourchaire also extended his Feature Race streak of podium finishes to three out of five races in 2023. Not even Championship leader Vesti can match that Sunday score card.

Victor Martins finally looked to be getting a deserved podium result. That was up until he received a drive-through penalty for not respecting yellow flags. The reigning Formula 3 Champion has a mountain to climb in order to wrestle his season back on track but possesses more than enough talent to do so. Next up, scene of his dominant second Feature Race win in F3 last year: Barcelona. ART Grand Prix has been lightning fast so far this year in Qualifying. Around the track in which Pourchaire finished in-season testing fastest of all at earlier in May, that puts the French team and its drivers in a great position.

AIMING HIGHER

20 points off the top spot having led the way on Saturday night, Ayumu Iwasa was slightly disappointed despite his Sprint Race win. The DAMS driver described that as “the minimum” after a poor Qualifying left him down in 9th position, a disaster around a track like Monaco. In the Feature Race, there was no way back into the upper points-paying positions and Iwasa will arrive in Barcelona somewhat adrift of the top two. With that said, he has more race victories than any other driver so far this season on three for a reason, he’s mightily quick and was on the podium in Barcelona one year ago.

Is there a ‘Leclerc curse’ around Monaco? Arthur might think so after a torrid weekend at home left him out of the points on Saturday and on the sidelines on Sunday. Having been fifth in the Championship prior to Baku and the highest placed rookie also, he has now fallen to 10th position in the space of two Rounds. That said, when he has been quick, he has four top fives, including around tracks he has not visited before. Racing around familiar territory then can do no harm in kicking off a reversal of fortunes.

QUALIFYING QUANDRY

Jehan Daruvala picked up his third podium of the season with P2 in the Sprint Race while Dennis Hauger rebounded from P17 in Qualifying to finish fifth in the Feature Race. While that is not what reigning Champions MP Motorsport will have been aiming for prior to the weekend, the points accumulated has lifted the Dutch squad to fourth in the Teams’ Standings.

Looking ahead to Barcelona, scene of Felipe Drugovich’s dominant sweep in the 2022 Sprint and Feature Races, MP could be slowly but surely returning to last season’s form. Qualifying pace is the primary aim heading to Barcelona in order to alleviate some of the work both drivers have been left facing in the races, starting further back than planned. Alleviate issues over one lap and expect to see both MP drivers fighting for the upper positions.

CARRYING MOMENTUM HOME

More points for Kush Maini and the Indian rookie rises to fourth in the Drivers’ Championship. While he was caught up in the first lap drama in the Sprint, he maximised his Feature Race chances by steering clear of trouble to finish sixth to add to his tally. Campos Racing has already surpassed their total score for the entire 2022 campaign and now sit fifth in the Teams’ Standings on 82 points.

The team will be hoping to put together one of its strongest weekends of the campaign on home soil this weekend. In Barcelona, Maini topped the morning sessions on day one and two of in-season testing and he feels very comfortable heading back to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. For teammate Ralph Boschung, it will be the first time since 2019 that the Swiss driver will be racing around the Spanish track.

ONE OR THE OTHER

It seems as though only one Rodin Carlin driver can have a good weekend at a time. This past weekend, it was the turn of Zane Maloney to return to the F2 podium, achieving a well-earned P3 in the Monte Carlo Feature Race. The Bajan driver had been contending for the top spots in Qualifying and capitalised on errors from those ahead on Sunday to achieve his second third-place finish of the year.

Enzo Fittipaldi pulled off one of the memorable overtakes of the weekend, surging around the outside of Amaury Cordeel into Turn 1. No points for the Brazilian though will be a disappointing result to take, but he will be hopeful of replicating his 2022 performance in Barcelona, with two points finishes there, last season.

PLENTY MORE POTENTIAL

Richard Verschoor was punchy in his assessment after securing P4 in the Sprint Race for Van Amersfoort Racing. The Dutch driver was sure that the team had more potential in the car, worthy of a podium finish at least. His form has been a high point for the team this year, with a lowest Feature Race result of P8 so far this year. Those points finishes have propelled him up to P7 in the Championship and the team looks like it is improving race by race, eliminating weaknesses and moving further forward.

Progress in reducing tyre degradation have been a strong point for the team that has allowed Verschoor to extract points finishes from far back on the grid. In Monaco, a top 10 start for the Dutch driver put him in a great position for points in both races, and he maximised with two fourth place results. Both Verschoor and Juan Manuel Correa will be hoping to replicate their top 10 pace from in-season testing around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at the weekend.

QUICKER THAN RESULTS SUGGEST

Jak Crawford now has the most consecutive points scoring finishes, with the American achieving four in a row to lead the way. His back-to-back-to-back Sprint Race podiums are evidence of improved Qualifying speed. Ensuring he can move forward in the Feature Races will go a long way to moving him up the Championship standings.

For Isack Hadjar, he may well have stood on the top step of the podium had he not suffered a mechanical issue in the Sprint Race. The Frenchman couldn’t capitalise in the Feature Race either, one of those who lost out in the shuffle with the Safety Car and Red Flag. The team was satisfied with both drivers’ speed, but they will be hoping things go in their favour a little more this weekend around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Where does Invicta Virtuosi Racing go from here? Barcelona of course, but the team experienced something of a hammer blow in Monte Carlo, particularly with Jack Doohan. Having Qualified P4, the Australian was hardly pleased, feeling there was plenty of time left on the table and a pole lap in the offing. That never arrived courtesy of the Red Flags and his weekend only worsened from there. Points in the Sprint was a nice step, as was the additional fastest lap point, but crashing in the Feature ended the weekend on a sour note.

However, Doohan was fastest on two of the three days in Barcelona during in-season testing. He was also making a lot of positive noise that Virtuosi has now solved their issues from earlier in the year. If that’s true and Doohan can replicate the speed he had during testing, he would be a force to be reckoned with throughout the weekend. Heading to Barcelona, both Doohan and teammate Amaury Cordeel gathered plenty of data that will be useful, logging a whopping 137 laps between them on the final day of in-season testing alone. Returning to Spain, the team and a more conventional circuit, expect the performance levels to rise.

ALL EYES ON SPAIN

Roman Stanek was equally buoyant about the prospect of racing in a week’s time in Barcelona as much as his Monte Carlo points finish. The Trident driver achieved his second score of the year and from last on the grid. Normally that would have been enough but it’s the chance of more around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya that has the Czech driver truly excited.

Following in-season testing, Trident apparently made “a good step” with the car according to Stanek, fuelling his excitement for Round 7. When the times were at their quickest all week, Stanek was eighth fastest on the third and final day earlier in May. Whatever the team has picked up for the upcoming race weekend clearly has Stanek thinking of more points finishes, but time will tell how the Italian outfit gets on. Clément Novalak had a tough time in Monte Carlo but will be happy to return to Barcelona, scene of his second-best Feature Race finish in 2022.

REFOCUSING

With a tough weekend in Monte Carlo in the books, PHM Racing by Charouz can turn to Barcelona and refocus their efforts. Three days of in-season testing provided plenty of data that the team will have analysed extensively as it seeks its first points of the 2023 season.

Brad Benavides and Roy Nissany will be aiming to put their accumulated mileage together in pursuit of a more positive weekend in Barcelona. The latter also has previous form around the circuit, achieving points with DAMS last year.