2022 French F2 Sprint Race report and highlights: Lawson wins Paul Ricard Sprint Race in style
Liam Lawson took his second win of the Formula 2 season in brilliant style around Circuit Paul Ricard. The Carlin driver pulled daring moves on Marcus Armstrong and Jehan Daruvala for victory.
After falling to fourth at the opening corner, Lawson fought back in swift and decisive fashion, retaking third from Felipe Drugovich immediately on the opening lap before fighting back past Armstrong for second. A very late dive down the outside of the Hitech Grand Prix driver on Lap 4 moved Lawson alongside at Turn 8 before he claimed the inside of Turn 9 to seal the move.
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He rapidly closed down the two second gap to race leader Daruvala and following a Safety Car period, pulled off a similar pass on the PREMA Racing driver to claim first place. From that point on, he was untroubled for the win.
Daruvala held onto second after a tough battle with Armstrong. The latter attempted a pass on Lap 19 into the chicane but forced the Indian driver off circuit and compromised himself in the process. He dropped to ninth by the chequered flag which became 14th following a post-race penalty for the incident.
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Likewise, third place on the road Theo Pourchaire received a post-race time penalty for forcing Armstrong off the circuit later on the same lap. It dropped the home favourite off the podium and down to seventh after the penalty was applied.
The post-race affairs promoted Drugovich onto the podium, extending his advantage in the Drivers’ Championship over both Pourchaire and Logan Sargeant. The American ended up P8 when all was said and done.
Drugovich’s advantage in the standings now stands at 42 points over Sargeant. Pourchaire’s demotion leaves him a further two points adrift of the Carlin driver and third in the table.
Carlin lead the way in the standings, seven points clear of MP Motorsport, while ART Grand Prix are a further six points away.
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