Charles Leclerc proclaimed F2 champion with a race win in Jerez

Charles Leclerc (Prema Racing) wins the feature race in Jerez de la Frontera and takes the championship home with 3 more races to go. Oliver Rowland (DAMS) finished just behind, with an impressive Antonio Fuoco (Prema Racing) in 3^rd.

It’s a flying start for championship leader Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque giving his all and straight away pushing to create a gap. He’s followed by Luca Ghiotto, Sergio Sette Camara and Alexander Albon, who managed a great start from 6^th to 4^th passing Oliver Rowland. The latter one losing a spot in the first corner, but the Briton comes back to not only regain 4^th by passing Albon; he also passes Camara to take 3^rd right behind Ghiotto. The Italian feeling the pressure from the Briton will then be passed by lap 10.

The first drivers to pit on the soft tyres, around lap 7, are Norman Nato (Arden) and Louis Delétraz (Rapax). Leclerc choses for a later pitstop on lap 12, just a rival Oliver Rowland. At this time there were about 10 seconds between both drivers. Leclerc pits, finds himself in a bunch of traffic but manages to pass every driver in front of him in about 8 laps.

The first driver on the hard compound to pit is Santino Ferrucci (Trident) on lap 20, the other drivers follow his example and bit in the following 5 laps. At the front, Rowland has found the pace in his new tyres and passes Camara and Ghiotto in the same lap slowly closing in on Leclerc.

The tyre degradation ends up being more important than anticipated as Sean Gelael (Arden) and Alex Palou (Campos Racing) stop for a second pitstop. With just 8 laps to go, Nobuharu Matsushita and Ferrucci collide and cause the first and only safety car of the race. When the safety car is in, we witness what looks like a strange restart. Gelael and Delétraz, who are a lap down on everyone, stay in position between Leclerc and Rowland, getting in the way of the latter one. In the confusion Fuoco managed to come back and take third place.

Charles Leclerc gets his 6^th victory of the season, just in front of Oliver Rowland and Prema teammate Antonio Fuoco. In the confusion of the last few laps, Nicholas Latifi, Artem Markelov, Jordan King, Luca Ghiotto and Alex Palou complete the top 8 for reversed grid positions. Charles Leclerc now being 83 points ahead of Oliver Rowland in the championship sees the Monegasque take the 2017 FIA Formula 2 title in his rookie season.