F2 Monaco: Lawson takes pole, Hughes crash causes red flag
Liam Lawson took pole for the FIA Formula 2 feature race in Monaco, snatching a last-second lead in Group A despite a yellow flag.
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Championship leader Felipe Drugovich was leading for MP Motorsport until the final seconds, when he hit the wall at Turn 19, bringing out the yellow flags in the last sector.
Despite this, the Carlin driver improved on his time to go top with a 1m21.229s to take pole.
2021 feature race winner Theo Pourchaire topped Group B to line up second, with a 1m21.535s securing his place on the front row.
Ayumu Iwasa is set to line up third, having finished second in the first group of runners, but also improved under yellow flag conditions, with Juri Vips in fourth for Hitech.
Jake Hughes will take reverse-grid pole for the sprint race having finished fifth in Group B despite a huge crash, which ended the session, with Marcus Armstrong lining up second.
Group A
Heading out on the supersoft tyre, the odd-numbered runners were first to set their qualifying laps on the twisting streets on Monte Carlo.
Barcelona double-winner Drugovich was first to set an attacking lap for MP Motorsport, putting in a 1m21.795s to top the timesheet, with Carlin’s Lawson slotting into second.
Ralph Boschung took second with a 1m21.859s, with Marcus Armstrong third ahead of Lawson, who was demoted to fourth.
After his Spain domination, Drugovich blotted his copybook by striking the wall
Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Drugovich then improved to a 1m21.348s, with Lawson closing in on him after setting the quickest middle sector.
As the times tumbled, Boschung made contact with the wall and suffered damage, leaving him unable to improve and dropping back to seventh by the session's conclusion.
Drama then came in the final seconds as Drugovich hit the wall at Turn 19, bringing out the yellow flags in the last sector.
Despite this, Lawson managed to improve to go top with a 1m21.229s. But his and the times of other drivers who improved under the yellow flags, including Iwasa, will be looked at by the stewards.
As the times stand, Lawson took the top spot, with Drugovich relegated to third and Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan in fourth.
Williams and Amaury Cordeel both face post-session investigations for pitlane infringements.
Group B
MP Motorsport’s Clement Novalak was first to set a flying lap in the second group, comprising of the even-numbered runners, with a 1m23.884s.
Logan Sargeant was next to top the timesheets, heading closer to Group A’s times with a 1m22.230s, with Juri Vips slotting into second.
Boschung, back after a neck strain caused him to miss Spain, was another to crash out for Campos
Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd
As the times tumbled, Roy Nissany took the top spot for DAMS with a 1m22.178s, before Jehan Daruvala bettered him despite a brush with the wall, escaping without sustaining damage.
Enzo Fittipaldi was next to set the quickest time with a 1m21.719s, before Vips went over 0.1s quicker to lead with just a few minutes remaining.
Pourchaire snatched the lead before a huge crash from Hughes into the Swimming Pool chicane caused a red flag, ended the session prematurely.
F2 Monaco - Qualifying results
Group A
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Liam Lawson |
 Carlin |
11 | 1'21.229 | |
| 2 |  Ayumu Iwasa |
 DAMS |
11 | 1'21.288 | 0.059 |
| 3 |  Felipe Drugovich |
 MP Motorsport |
10 | 1'21.348 | 0.119 |
| 4 |  Jack Doohan |
UNI-Virtuosi |
11 | 1'21.432 | 0.203 |
| 5 | Marcus Armstrong |
HitechGP |
11 | 1'21.734 | 0.505 |
| 6 |  Dennis Hauger |
 Prema Powerteam |
11 | 1'21.817 | 0.588 |
| 7 |  Ralph Boschung |
 Campos Racing |
10 | 1'21.859 | 0.630 |
| 8 | Calan Williams |
Trident |
11 | 1'21.985 | 0.756 |
| 9 |  Frederik Vesti |
ART Grand Prix |
10 | 1'22.703 | 1.474 |
| 10 |  Amaury Cordeel |
Van Amersfoort Racing |
11 | 1'22.762 | 1.533 |
| 11 |  Cem Bolukbasi |
 Charouz Racing System |
10 | 1'24.150 | 2.921 |
| View full results | |||||
Group B
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Theo Pourchaire |
ART Grand Prix |
9 | 1'21.535 | |
| 2 |  Jüri Vips |
HitechGP |
9 | 1'21.618 | 0.083 |
| 3 | Enzo Fittipaldi |
Charouz Racing System |
10 | 1'21.719 | 0.184 |
| 4 |  Jehan Daruvala |
Prema Powerteam |
9 | 1'21.928 | 0.393 |
| 5 | Jake Hughes |
Van Amersfoort Racing |
9 | 1'22.011 | 0.476 |
| 6 |  Roy Nissany |
DAMS |
9 | 1'22.017 | 0.482 |
| 7 |  Logan Sargeant |
Carlin |
9 | 1'22.072 | 0.537 |
| 8 | Clement Novalak |
MP Motorsport |
10 | 1'23.180 | 1.645 |
| 9 | Marino Sato |
UNI-Virtuosi |
9 | 1'23.241 | 1.706 |
| 10 | Olli Caldwell |
Campos Racing |
9 | 1'23.498 | 1.963 |
| 11 | Richard Verschoor |
Trident |
7 | 1'29.993 | 8.458 |
| View full results | |||||
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