Liam Lawson took pole for feature F2 race in Monaco from Theo Pourchaire and Ayumu Iwasa in a chaotic qualifying session.
Group A:
The first group in Monaco F2 qualifying featured the 11 odd numbered cars with MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich leading the way midway in the short session from Carlin’s Liam Lawson and Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan.
There was an incident involving Campos’ Ralph Boschung where he tapped the wall but managed to continue into the pits. There was already a yellow in Sector 1 when Drugovich was coming through the final sector but the Brazilian tapped the wall.
It ended his chance as some of the drivers that followed improved on their time despite the yellow flags. The whole sequence was put under investigation as Lawson improved on his time to a 1m21.229s and set the pace in the first group.
Likewise DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa improved as well with a 1m21.288s lap to be second while Drugovich’s 1m21.348s lap was enough to keep him third still. Doohan was fourth from Hitech GP’s Marcus Armstrong with Prema’s Dennis Hauger in sixth.
Despite his hit, Boschung was seventh from Trident’s Calan Williams, ART’s Frederik Vesti, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Amaury Cordeel and Charouz’s Cem Bolukbasi to round out the 11 runners in the group.
Group B:
The second group saw all the even numbered cars in Monaco F2 qualifying but no one got on pace as much early in the session. But by the end, times started to tumble down lap after lap where VAR’s Jake Hughes went fastest initially.
But Prema’s Jehan Daruvala snatched it but Charouz’s Enzo Fittipaldi, Hitech GP’s Juri Vips took that lap before ART’s Theo Pourchaire went fastest. But before anyone could go for a final lap, Hughes had a massive crash after running over a kerb around Swimming Pool.
He hit the wall couple of times and cut across the track to come to a halt. The session was red-flagged and not resumed with Pourchaire ending up fastest with a 1m21.535s lap from Vips (1m21.618s) and Fittipaldi (1m21.719s) in the Top 3.
Daruvala was fourth from Hughes with DAMS’ Roy Nissany in sixth, Carlin’s Logan Sargeant seventh, MP Motorsport’s Clement Novalak eighth, Virtuosi’s Marino Sato ninth, Campos’ Olli Caldwell 10th and Trident’s Richard Verschoor 11th.
With Lawson’s time faster than Pourchaire’s, the provisional F2 pole went to the Kiwi with Group A having an advantage over Group B. The provisional Top 10 stood as: Lawson, Pourchaire, Iwasa, Vips, Drugovich, Fittipaldi, Doohan, Daruvala, Armstrong, Hughes.
UPDATE: Lawson lost pole due to setting a fast time under yellows with Iwasa also losing the second fastest time from Group A. This means Drugovich is on pole for the feature F2 race in Monaco with Group A still heading the time sheets.
Lawson also gets a 5-place grid penalty for the sprint race. “The Stewards examined video and timing evidence. They summoned and heard the driver and team representative (document 19). Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determined that the Driver did not noticeably reduce his speed in the sector where the yellow flag was displayed for the stranded Car 11.
“His mini sector time was only 0.012s slower than his best time of that mini sector. During the hearing, the Driver furthermore admitted that he saw the yellow flags and the yellow light panel at Marshal Post 20A. As it was not evident that the driver had reduced speed, the Stewards impose the above penalty,” stated the statement.
At the same time, Iwasa was handed a 10-place penalty for the sprint race while his lap was cancelled which dropped him further in feature race too. “The Stewards examined video and timing evidence. They summoned and heard the driver and team representative (document 19).
“Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determined that the Driver did not noticeably reduce his speed in the sector where the yellow flag was displayed for the stranded Car 11. His mini sector time was only 0.012s slower than his best time of that mini sector. During the hearing, the Driver furthermore admitted that he saw the yellow flags and the yellow light panel at Marshal Post 20A. As it was not evident that the driver had reduced speed, the Stewards impose the above penalty,” stated the statement.
Doohan was also under investigation for the same offence but he was cleared by the stewards of slowing down enough. There was another grid drop of 3-pace for the sprint race for Caldwell for impeding Sato in qualifying.
“The Stewards examined video evidence. They summoned and heard the drivers and team representatives (documents 18 & 20). Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determined that Car 14 was on a preparation lap while the trailing Car 4 was on a fast lap. The Driver of Car 14 stated that he believed that they were on a similar strategy.
“The Stewards accept that this misunderstanding led to the impeding which occurred between Turns 1 through 4. Nevertheless, Car 14 had the opportunity to let Car 4 through prior to Turn 3. Accordingly the Stewards determine that Car 14 unnecessarily impeded Car 4 and impose the above penalty in conformance with prior decisions,” said a statement.
Meanwhile, Cordeel was reprimanded for entering into Charouz’s pit space and brushing an equipment. At the same time, Trident were handed a fine of 1000 euros for team personnel failing to wear helmets during a stop. An additional 2000 euros s is suspended until the end of this season.
Group A results: Drugovich, Doohan, Lawson, Armstrong, Hauger, Boschung, Iwasa, Williams, Vesti, Cordeel, Boulkbasi.
Group b results: Pourchaire, Vips, Fittipaldi, Daruvala, Hughes, Nissany, Sargeant, Novalak, Sato, Caldwell, Verschoor.
