F2 Monaco: Vesti wins red-flagged feature race

The Prema Racing driver, in his second F2 season, took a lights-to-flag win to repeat his success in Saudi Arabia.

The race was red-flagged after a crash for Virtuosi driver Doohan at Turn 3 saw his car burst into flames, prompting a clean-up operation which stalled action for 20 minutes.

Vesti crossed the line 2.5s clear of second-placed Theo Pourchaire, who faces a post-race investigation for a pitlane infringement.

Rodin Carlin rookie Zane Maloney finished third for his second podium of the season.

The top three stayed the same into Turn 1 at the start, despite Pourchaire initially losing ground to Jack Doohan before getting back ahead.

MP Motorsport’s Jehan Daruvala lost out at the start to Red Bull juniors Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS) and Isack Hadjar of Hitech, dropping to 10th.

Further back, Oliver Bearman made up two places on the first lap in his Prema-run car, passing Amaury Cordeel (Virtuosi) and MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger for 12th.

Cordeel continued to fall down the order before retiring on lap three.

By lap five, Vesti had built a one-second gap to Martins, with another 2.6s between the two ART cars.

Iwasa and Hadjar were embroiled in a fierce fight for eighth, with the Japanese driver holding firm despite the challenge.

Clement Novalak (Trident) and Campos’ Ralph Boschung were first to pit on lap seven, switching from the super softs to the soft Pirelli compound.

Heartbreak came for home favourite Arthur Leclerc the following tour as he lost brakes on his DAMS-run entry, cutting the Nouvelle Chicane before crawling back to the pits.

The stops continued over the next few laps, with Jak Crawford leading the stoppers for Hitech as Iwasa and Hadjar followed suit.

Frederik Vesti, PREMA Racing (Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd)

By the third-distance mark, Vesti led by 3.3s, with another 4.6s between Martins and Pourchaire.

Bearman pitted from ninth on lap 15 and came out ahead of Iwasa, but with suboptimal tyre temperatures, was passed again at the hairpin by the DAMS driver, who slotted behind Crawford to run second of the stoppers.

Enzo Fittipaldi was next to retire, with a huge plume of smoke emerging from his Rodin Carlin car as he stopped at the Nouvelle Chicane and retired, prompting a virtual safety car.

Drama ensued on lap 22 as Doohan, who had earlier contracted a broken front wing, spun out of fourth place at Turn 3, hitting the wall before his Virtuosi-run car burst into flames and prompted a red flag.

The Australian had clipped the wall at the swimming pool section, continuing up the road before the incident which ended his race. Zane Maloney, who had been running behind him for Rodin Carlin, had a near miss but took evasive action.

Trident’s Roman Stanek, who had yet to stop before the red flag, was the biggest beneficiary, having started 22nd before climbing through the field during the opening stages to sit eighth when action resumed.

Dennis Hauger similarly made strong progress, sitting sixth on the restart having begun the race in 17th.

Action resumed 20 minutes later after a clean-up operation, with Vesti maintaining his lead as the originally-scheduled 42-lap contest was ultimately completed under a time limit.

Martins, who had been running in second, was then hit with a drive-through penalty for failing to slow for yellow flags, dropping him to eighth and promoting Maloney onto the podium.

Richard Verschoor finished fourth for Van Amersfoort Racing, with Hauger in fifth and Campos Racing rookie Kush Maini in sixth.

Stanek was seventh, with Martins, Crawford and Iwasa rounding off the top 10.

F2 Monaco: Feature race results

Cla	Driver		Team	Laps	Time	Gap	Points
1	Frederik Vesti		Prema Powerteam	39	-		25
2	Theo Pourchaire		ART Grand Prix	39	2.5	2.500	18
3	Zane Maloney		Rodin Carlin	39	15.5	15.500	15
4	Richard Verschoor		Van Amersfoort Racing	39	21.6	21.600	12
5	Dennis Hauger		MP Motorsport	39	22.3	22.300	10
6	Kush Maini		Campos Racing	39	25.3	25.300	8
7	Roman Staněk		Trident	39	27.3	27.300	6
8	Victor Martins		ART Grand Prix	39	27.6	27.600	4
9	Jak Crawford		Hitech Pulse-Eight	39	42.0	42.000	2
10	Ayumu Iwasa		DAMS	39	44.3	44.300	1
11	Oliver Bearman		Prema Powerteam	39	45.2	45.200
12	Isack Hadjar		Hitech Pulse-Eight	39	46.0	46.000
13	Jehan Daruvala		MP Motorsport	39	54.5	54.500
14	Juan Manuel Correa		Van Amersfoort Racing	39	57.6	57.600
15	Roy Nissany		PHM Racing by Charouz	39	1'12.0	1'12.000
16	Brad Benavides		PHM Racing by Charouz	39	1'12.4	1'12.400
17	Clement Novalak		Trident	39	1'12.8	1'12.800
	Ralph Boschung		Campos Racing	31	8 laps
	Jack Doohan		Invicta Virtuosi Racing	21	18 laps
	Amaury Cordeel		Invicta Virtuosi Racing	21	18 laps
	Enzo Fittipaldi		Rodin Carlin	17	22 laps
	Arthur Leclerc		DAMS	7	32 laps
View full results