How an F2 powerhouse honoured its late founder's memory

For Sergio Sette Camara, his Abu Dhabi Formula 2 feature-race win signified everything the young McLaren test and development driver's season should have been.

For DAMS, it meant the most emotional of triumphs as the Brazilian's victory sealed the teams' title just a few months on from the death of the squad's founder Jean-Paul Driot.

The DAMS drivers - 2020 Williams Formula 1 signing Nicholas Latifi in the other car - have carried stickers commemorating Driot ever since, and the squad could easily have suffered a slump in form or even capitulated. But its strong final quarter of the year proved everything Driot stood for: put good people in the right places and the results will come.

One of those people, DAMS team boss Francois Sicard, said: "He was such a competitor. The only way to honour Jean-Paul was to carry on with the momentum, carry on winning and clinching the title. He has done so much for the team."

You could be forgiven for switching off from a pole winner taking the victory, but the race was about as exciting as possible given the circumstances.

The tyres - supersofts and softs - degrade so quickly in Abu Dhabi that it becomes a case of survival for those on the best strategy. Sette Camara failed on that front at the start, as Louis Deletraz and Callum Ilott - on the same strategy - breezed past as he burned up his rear tyres.

It's something that has plagued Sette Camara's season. But the sometimes hot-headed 21-year-old never lost his cool in the heat, measuring a second stint where - after leaping past Ilott in the pitstops - he watched Carlin ace Deletraz drive into the distance.

Out front, Nobuharu Matsushita and Guanyu Zhou were in a class of their own, the Carlin and Virtuosi Racing drivers running soft tyres from the start on the alternate strategy. Zhou had been as much as seven seconds behind, but had whittled that down to nothing by lap 27 of 31. It was Matsushita who pitted first and received the undercut.

Zhou stayed out one lap longer trying to use his pace advantage, but it wasn't enough.

Meanwhile, Sette Camara emerged in the picture behind Deletraz and was closing.

Sette Camara has secured an F1 superlicence, which makes him an attractive proposition for the future

The net leader for effectively 80% of the race (knowing Matsushita and Zhou would have to pit), Deletraz lost out as Sette Camara timed his late surge perfectly and stormed past on lap 28.

The only question in the closing phase was whether Matsushita and Zhou - now lapping upwards of six seconds quicker than their rivals on new boots - had enough tyre life and time left to bring the gap down.

Both passed Deletraz, but Matsushita lost too much time doing so, allowing Sette Camara to scarper up the road.

With a 2020 IndyCar slot and an F2 return rumoured in the paddock, despite a nightmare season this year, Sette Camara sealed fourth in the standings and secured an F1 superlicence, which makes him an attractive proposition for the future.

Matsushita and Zhou rounded out the podium, but Deletraz would get his revenge in the second race when he mugged team-mate Matsushita on the last lap for sixth.

Giuliano Alesi took eighth in the feature and the reversed-grid race pole, which he managed well to take a whopping 1.7s lead at the end of the first lap.

But he was never expected to stay there and on lap eight Luca Ghiotto stormed past.

The Italian, in his last race after four years in the F1 support series, should have fought for the title with Virtuosi but some mistakes and niggly issues cost him. At least breezing into the distance in the sprint race promoted him back to third in the championship.

In doing so he deposed Sette Camara - who stormed through the pack after falling to ninth at the start, taking third on the penultimate lap from Ilott.

Second belonged to Latifi. After four years with DAMS, the teary-eyed Canadian thanked the team for all it had done for him. It was a fitting and emotional tribute.

And what about the F2 champion? A nightmare weekend for Nyck de Vries yielded a pair of 13th places after set-up and tyre issues. What could have been, had the title race stayed alive until the last round?