F2 Monaco: Hauger takes maiden win after Hughes stalls on grid

Having suffered a difficult start to his rookie season, 2021 FIA Formula 3 champion finally clinched his first win of the year in a Prema 1-2.

With Hughes failing to get off the line in his Van Amersfoort Racing-run car, Hauger made it past and held fast until the chequered flag, having built up a five-second lead over Daruvala, while Marcus Armstrong took third for Hitech Grand Prix.

Despite Hughes' stall on the grid parking him in the path of the rest of the pack, the remaining 20 cars made it past without any major incident.

While the drivers starting second through fourth on the grid remained in grid order, back in the pack 2021 Monaco feature race winner Theo Pourchaire passed Jack Doohan for sixth on the run to Mirabeau.

The safety car was deployed on lap 10 after MP Motorsport's Clement Novalak ended up in the barrier at the exit of La Rascasse following contact with Ayumu Iwasa. The DAMS driver, who had qualified second on Saturday but was docked his time for improving under a yellow flag, received a 10-second penalty for the incident.

Racing resumed on lap 14, and though Enzo Fittipaldi looked keen to pass Armstrong for third, the Charouz Racing System driver was forced to stay behind, fending off challenges from Armstrong's team-mate Juri Vips in fifth.

By lap 23, Hauger had built a five-second lead to Daruvala, having taken several fastest laps in clear air. But he was pipped to the bonus point by Virtuosi driver Doohan, who set a 1m22.832s on the final lap to finish in seventh.

Hauger and Prema team-mate Daruvala embrace after finishing first and second in Monaco

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Liam Lawson, who was stripped of pole for tomorrow's race because of the same yellow flag violation as Iwasa, took eighth, as Roy Nissany (DAMS) and Carlin's Logan Sargeant completed the top 10.

Championship leader Felipe Drugovich was forced to pit after suffering a rear right puncture in the opening lap chaos, with his MP Motorsport team taking a gamble and sending him back out on the wet tyres.

But he pitted again just two laps later with no rain in sight, and received a five second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

After appearing to retire, Drugovich returned to the track five laps behind the pack, before receiving another penalty for the same reason several laps later.  The Sunday polesitter finally retired on lap 19, capping a poor day for the MP team.

Campos Racing's Ralph Boschung was forced to withdraw ahead of the race due to ongoing neck pain which also saw him pull out of the Barcelona weekend.

He qualified seventh in Group A on Friday but decided not to race, saying in a social media post that his "health situation has not been getting much better" and that he was "not able to push at my full capabilities in order to get the result my team deserves".

F2's feature race takes place on Sunday at 08:50 BST (09:50 local time).

F2 Monaco Sprint Race Results - 30 laps

Cla	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Dennis Hauger	Prema Powerteam	-
2	Jehan Daruvala	Prema Powerteam	6.700	6.700
3	Marcus Armstrong	HitechGP	7.200	7.200
4	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz Racing System	13.100	13.100
5	Jüri Vips	HitechGP	14.500	14.500
6	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	15.800	15.800
7	Jack Doohan	UNI-Virtuosi	17.300	1 Lap
8	Liam Lawson	Carlin	21.600	1 Lap
9	Roy Nissany	DAMS	22.800	22.800
10	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	23.000	1 Lap
11	Frederik Vesti	ART Grand Prix	26.300	26.300
12	Cem Bolukbasi	Charouz Racing System	31.300	31.300
13	Richard Verschoor	Trident	32.400	32.400
14	Calan Williams	Trident	44.200	44.200
15	Marino Sato	UNI-Virtuosi	44.600	44.600
16	Olli Caldwell	Campos Racing	45.200	45.200
17	Amaury Cordeel	Van Amersfoort Racing	47.200	47.200
18	Jake Hughes	Van Amersfoort Racing	55.400	55.400
19	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	55.700	55.700
	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	19 laps
	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	22 laps
View full results