F2 Abu Dhabi: Piastri crowned champion as Daruvala wins first sprint

The Prema driver produced yet another impressive drive to climb from 10th to third, which was more than enough to secure the title early.

Piastri’s rookie year F2 title success is his third consecutive championship after winning the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup crown (now known as Formula Regional European Championship) and the FIA Formula 3 title last year.

While the Australian enjoyed championship glory thanks to a 10th podium of the season, Daruvala managed to hold off Felipe Drugovich by 2.079 seconds to score a second victory of 2021.

After losing the final podium spot to his team-mate, Robert Shwartzman came home in fourth behind champion Piastri.

Reversed-grid polesitter Daruvala made a perfect getaway to lead the field into Turn 1 while Dan Ticktum, who started alongside the Red Bull junior, bogged down and dropped to fourth by the first turn.

Behind, Piastri made a rapid start from 10th to emerge in sixth behind Prema team-mate Shwartzman.

Drugovich pursued leader Daruvala closely on the opening lap, challenging the Indian at Turn 5.

Shwartzman was next to make a move on lap three when he overtook Ticktum for fourth at the Turn 6-7 chicane. Piastri followed his team-mate through on the British driver moments later.

At the front, Daruvala continued to come under pressure from Drugovich with less than a second separating the Carlin and UNI-Virtuosi drivers.

 

As this battle was playing out, Shwartzman continued to be the driver on the move as he caught and passed Liam Lawson for third. A lap later Piastri managed to take fourth from Lawson at the chicane once again.

The Prema pair soon found themselves on the back of the Drugovich and Daruvala battle for the lead as the race approached half distance.

Drugovich attempted to pass Daruvala with the pair going side-by-side for several corners before the latter was able to shut the door and preserve the lead.

That proved to be Drugovich’s only chance as Daruvala managed to get a second wind and was able to pull clear of the Brazilian, who feel into the clutches of Shwartzman.

With four laps remaining, Piastri was not to be denied a podium as he managed to slip by Shwartzman for third at the Turn 6-7 chicane.

In the end, Daruvala took the chequered flag from Drugovich and Piastri with Shwartzman in fourth.

Lawson came home in fifth ahead of Ticktum, Theo Pourchaire and Guanyu Zhou.

The top 10 was rounded out by Ralph Boschung and Marcus Armstrong, with Jack Doohan slipping outside of the top 10 into 11th spot.

The race ran largely without incident with the returning Richard Verschoor and Jake Hughes the only retirements.

Formula 2 is back for its second sprint race of the weekend after Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying at 1845 local time (1445 GMT).

F2 Abu Dhabi sprint race 1 results - 23 laps

Cla	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	-
2	Felipe Drugovich	UNI-Virtuosi	2.000	2.000
3	Oscar Piastri	Prema Powerteam	2.900	2.900
4	Robert Shwartzman	Prema Powerteam	3.500	3.500
5	Liam Lawson	HitechGP	11.200	11.200
6	Dan Ticktum	Carlin	12.900	12.900
7	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	14.100	14.100
8	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	15.500	15.500
9	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	17.000	17.000
10	Marcus Armstrong	DAMS	17.500	17.500
11	Jack Doohan	MP Motorsport	18.500	18.500
12	Jüri Vips	HitechGP	19.200	19.200
13	Bent Viscaal	Trident	22.200	22.200
14	Roy Nissany	DAMS	29.900	29.900
15	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	32.000	32.000
16	Guilherme Samaia	Charouz Racing System	32.600	32.600
17	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	37.000	37.000
18	Alessio Deledda	HWA Racelab	48.900	48.900
19	Marino Sato	Trident	54.300	54.300
20	Olli Caldwell	Campos Racing	1'43.500	1'43.500
	Jake Hughes	HWA Racelab	4 laps
	Richard Verschoor	Charouz Racing System	12 laps
View full results