A serious accident, wet weather racing, and an American making history. F2 at Silverstone was an exciting weekend!
1 – The Halo Saves Lives
No one was to know what would happen at the start of the F1 race. However, the halo almost certainly saved Nissany’s life in the F2 race.
On lap 1, Nissany had run wide coming off the hanger straight, re-joining the track he was under pressure from Hauger. In an overly aggressive defensive move he pushed Hauger off the track who suffered a puncture. Hauger was trying to get his car under control when he came across a sausage kerb. This launched his car into the air which speared straight into the cockpit of Nissany. Nissany was taking the corner and so had no idea Hauger was coming.
Luckily the Halo did its job and deflected Hauger’s car away because if it wasn’t there then the outcome is likely to have been very, very serious. The safety improvements the FIA have made are never as stark as the two incidents at Silverstone.
2 – Wet Weather Separates the Boys from the Men
For the first time this season, the F2 drivers would be racing in wet weather in the Sprint Race on Saturday. As is often the case, wet racing really can separate the best drivers from the very good drivers.
A couple of things to note are in the F2 Sprint Race there are no mandatory pit stops and F2 does not have intermediate tyres, only slicks and full wets. With the track wet then of course everyone was going to start on the wets but as the track was drying and tyre management was going to be important. No one knew if the track would dry enough for slicks. With no mandatory pitstops no one knew if it was going to be worth risking pitting for them either.
Off the line both Daruvala and Fittipaldi got away well and were leading but they went hard on their tyres. The track drying meant they had no rear grip and quite quickly started to fall back.
The two drivers who really shone were Doohan and Iwasa who had started fourth and sixth respectively. The pair managed their tyres well and didn’t push them too hard too early. Meaning towards the end they were quicker than anybody else on track. Taking a win and a very close second place while everybody behind was sliding around.
Hopefully, we’ll see more wet racing this year as it always throws up a few surprises.
3 – A Two Horse Title Race?
Coming into the weekend all the stories had been about Vips and his controversial comments during a live stream. Coming out of the weekend all the stories, rightly so, are on the Halo and its role in the accidents at Silverstone.
What has gone under the radar is the fact that the championship leader Drugovich and his closest challenger Pourchaire both scored well. Further back, the chasing pack haven’t been left behind but their results are definitely less consistent.
If Drugovich and Pourchaire’s scoring record continues in Austria this week then we could be talking about a two-driver title fight in the final rounds.
Picture perfect 🖼️#BritishGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/RUPPI5tjn8
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) July 3, 2022
4 – The Americans are Coming
For far too many years there have been arguments about whether American drivers are good enough to race in F1.
This year, the skills of Colton Herta have rightly been plauded, with rumors circling about a potential F1 seat coming up. Well in Sunday’s Feature Race, Logan Sargeant made F2 history.
The first American driver in the championship to ever win a race!
What a performance it was, leading from pole Sargeant managed to keep a gap to those behind him and was never troubled. Even when those behind started to pit and try to undercut him, he kept his cool and came out ahead of them. Some of the drivers ahead still needed to pit but it was never an issue for Sargeant who maintained a strong pace retaking the net lead after all the pitstops.
A couple of laps towards the end, Pourchaire got himself into DRS range but that was just tire management from Sargeant. Quite quickly the gap was pulled out again and Sargeant took the chequered flag.
With more performances like that could it be Williams Racing backing American, Logan Sargeant in F1.
5 – Driving Standards
It has become a theme this season that driving standards seem to have fallen compared to past years.
F2 drivers are seen as the most likely future F1 drivers and the series is a showroom for them to show their skills and earn the right of an F1 seat. However, there have been many questionable moves throughout the year. One of the most obvious was Nissany’s defense of Hauger eventually resulting in their crash.
The drivers need to up their game. Supporters love seeing incident-filled F2 races but safety is paramount and some of the moves being attempted are putting drivers at risk. It’s not what the F1 teams will be looking for in any driver they wish to promote. For their future, the F2 drivers need to get a grip on it.
F2 Championship Standings
Drivers
- Felipe Drugovich – 148 points
- Theo Pourchaire – 106 points
- Logan Sargeant – 88 points
- Jehan Daruvala – 80 points
Teams
- MP Motorsport – 170
- ART Grand Prix – 160
- Carlin – 147
- Prema Racing – 135
Next up is Austria and the Red Bull Ring from July 8th to 10th.
