__Felipe Drugovich commanded all the attention to take 2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship title with three races to spare, despite an opening lap retirement forcing him to sit and anxiously watch from the sidelines during the Monza Sprint Race. __
Starting P12 following a post-qualifying penalty, the MP Motorsport driver looked confident off the line, but his fortunes swiftly changed. Contact with Amaury Cordeel on the outside of Turn sent the Brazilian running wide into the gravel with a broken suspension and into an early retirement.
F3: Colapinto holds off Bearman in Monza Sprint Race to set up 6-way title showdown
He then watched as Theo Pourchaire’s attempts to keep the title fight going floundered. Following some progress through the midfield, the Sauber junior also found himself going through the gravel on the exit of Turn 2, sending the ART Grand prix driver tumbling down the order to finish P17.
Meanwhile, Juri Vips seized his opportunity on the early Safety Car restart to snatch the win away from Frederik Vesti and sail home to the Hitech Grand Prix driver’s first victory of the season. Vesti eventually finished second as Jehan Daruvala navigated his way through the chaos to go from fifth to third.
After getting bogged down off the line from the front row, Williams Academy junior bounced back to fourth, ahead of Richard Verschoor, who overcame several of his rivals in intense wheel-to-wheel battling.
Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson claimed sixth, ahead of Alpine junior Jack Doohan and David Beckmann, as a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage demoted Marcus Armstrong from P6 to P10.
Doohan will be hoping to fight for the win once again when he lines up on pole for the penultimate Feature Race of the season, which gets underway at 1005 local time on Sunday.
For more on the F2 Sprint Race in Monza, check out the full report on the official Formula 2 website.
New F2 champion Felipe Drugovich’s best moments from the 2022 season
