In the French summer heat Round 9 of the 2022 Formula 2 season took place. We look at each driver’s performance and give ratings out of 5 stars.
We try to be fair to the drivers and rate a 5 as the perfect weekend, 1 and 2 as room for improvement. 3 would be considered a weekend with some positives and a 4 as a good performance. As we know, in F2, a huge amount can change between races and rounds.
Dennis Hauger *****
Yet another bad weekend for the F3 champ. Every time he has a good race we are led to believe that it could be the turning point of his season, but the truth is he has been very inconsistent this year.
Jehan Daruvala *****
Daruvala remains positive after his sixth podium of the season even though that race win doesn’t necessarily look due. He was not too convincing given the opportunity, and not for the first time.
Jack Doohan *****
A consistent weekend is what Doohan needed as he moves up to sixth in the championship.
Marino Sato *****
A top ten finish for the fourth time this season, although unfortunately it was in the Sprint Race and no points rewarded his P9: Sato’s weekend was better than usual.
Liam Lawson *****
Lawson’s Sprint Race victory, his first since Round 2 in Saudi Arabia, seemed to give him a boost in confidence as he wrestled his way up in the Feature Race too, going from ninth to sixth. He also fought on Saturday, as he had dropped to third at they start before recovering to win. A few errors here and there and a mediocre qualifying session prevented him from doing even better.
Logan Sargeant *****
The rapid American took a second pole in three weekends, but suffered techincal problems during his pit stop in the Feature Race, having dropped to third at the start. His only result was therefore P8 in the Sprint Race, which he started from tenth place.
Marcus Armstrong *****
Zero points across the weekend is a really tough result considering Armstrong had run second for several laps during the Sprint Race; however, he was victim of overtake after overtake, and slipped to fourteenth. In the Feature Race he was, not for the first time this year, involved in contact after dropping three positions at the start.
Juri Vips *****
For the first time this year, Hitech did not score any points at all. Vips and Armstrong were evenly matched across the weekend, and Vips yet again suffered problems during his pit stop which have so often cost him plenty of points on Sundays.
Frederik Vesti *****
Vesti’s good run of results returned, having been put on pause at Spielberg. It’s also thanks to his resurgence that ART are now leading the Teams’ Championship.
Theo Pourchaire *****
The Sauber Academy driver still can’t make that step up in performance which could salvage the championship for him. In France, he recovered just two points on Drugovich, but his own performance was pretty good, although not spectacular.
Felipe Drugovich *****
Drugovich can now add the two races at Paul Ricard to his impressive list of top five finishes. With that kind of consistency and maturity displayed while racing at the front of the pack, his championship hopes are firmly in his own hands.
Clément Novalak *****
Finally some more points for the Frenchman, on home soil and after a crazy strategy which saw him pit for softs before most drivers had pitted for hards. Hopefully he can show more of this kind of performances in the coming races.
Olli Caldwell *****
P13 in the Feature Race equalled his second-best result so far this year, but after Spielberg’s heroics this was a weekend on par with those that came before the Austrian round.
Roberto Merhi *****
Spielberg’s super-sub fell below his standards at Paul Ricard as he retired in both races as he was caught up in on-track mayhem.
Roy Nissany *****
For the second weekend in a row Nissany finished ninth in the Feature Race, so that was good, although he was overshadowed by his team mate’s decisively more impressive result.
Ayumu Iwasa *****
Second in qualifying by the slimmest of margins, sixth in the Sprint Race after recovering three positions, and a maiden win in the Feature Race after a commanding performance: an excellent weekend for the rookie.
Richard Verschoor *****
Verschoor was very unfortunate to retire one lap from the chequered flag while running in the points. He nonetheless had enough laps to show his pace and allow us to rate him accordingly, even if the results did not go his way.
Calan Williams *****
Close to the top ten, especially in the Feature Race, Williams’ weekend wasn’t one of his best but neither was it too bad.
Enzo Fittipaldi *****
A collision put him out of the Sprint Race but he returned to his usual position in the points-paying positions during the Feature Race. He has dropped a few places in the standings but can recover them next time out in Hungary.
Cem Bölükbasi *****
The Turkish rookie sometimes impresses with his racing, like when he jumped eight cars on the opening lap of the Sprint Race. However, across a race distance, he slightly faded away.
David Beckmann *****
Tenth in his first race in Jake Hughes’ car was a very good result, much better than he managed when replacing Cordeel some weeks ago. Fourteenth in the Feature Race was not as impressive, but with another race weekend down the road, he can build on this experience and target some points.
Amaury Cordeel ******
A quiet weekend for the Belgian, i.e. a step forward, but not so much in terms of pure pace, as he finished fifteenth in the Sprint Race and retired, after a collision which was not his fault, in the Feature Race.
Image: Formula Motorsport Limited
