F2 Monaco: Vesti wins red-flagged feature race

The Prema Racing driver, in his second F2 season, took a lights-to-flag win to repeat his success in Saudi Arabia.

The race was red flagged after a crash from Invicta Virtuosi driver Doohan at Turn 3 saw his car burst into flames, prompting a clean-up operation which stalled action for 20 minutes.

Vesti crossed the line 2.5s clear of second-placed Theo Pourchaire, who faces a post-race investigation for a pitlane infringement.

Rodin Carlin rookie Zane Maloney finished third for his second podium of the season.

The top three stayed the same into Turn 1, despite Theo Pourchaire initially losing ground to Jack Doohan before getting back ahead.

MP Motorsport’s Jehan Daruvala lost out on the start to Red Bull juniors Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS) and Isack Hadjar of Hitech, dropping to 10th.

Further back, Oliver Bearman made up two places on the first lap in his Prema, passing Amaury Cordeel (Invicta Virtuosi) and MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger for 12th.

Cordeel continued to fall down the order before retiring on lap three.

By lap five, Vesti had built a one-second gap to Martins, with another 2.6s between the two ART cars.

Iwasa and Hadjar were embroiled in a fierce fight for eighth, with the Japanese driver holding firm despite the challenge.

Clement Novalak (Trident) and Campos’ Ralph Boschung were first to pit on lap seven, switching from the super softs to the soft Pirelli compound.

Heartbreak came for home favourite Arthur Leclerc the following tour as he lost brakes on his DAMS, cutting the Nouvelle Chicane before crawling back to the pits.

The stops continued over the next few laps, with Jak Crawford leading the stoppers for Hitech as Iwasa and Hadjar followed suit.

By the third-distance mark, Vesti led by 3.3s, with another 4.6s between Martins and Pourchaire.

Bearman pitted from ninth on lap 15 and came out ahead of Iwasa, but with suboptimal tyre temperatures, was passed again at the hairpin by the DAMS driver, who slotted behind Crawford to run second of the stoppers.

Enzo Fittipaldi was next to retire, with a huge plume of smoke emerging from his Rodin Carlin as he stopped at the Nouvelle Chicane and retired, prompting a virtual safety car.

Drama ensued on lap 22 as Jack Doohan, who had earlier contracted a broken front wing, spun out of fourth place at Turn 3, hitting the wall before his Invicta Virtuosi car burst into flames and prompted a red flag.

The Australian had clipped the wall at the swimming pool section, continuing up the road before the incident which ended his race. Zane Maloney, who had been running behind him for Rodin Carlin, had a near miss but took evasive action.

Trident’s Roman Stanek, who had yet to stop before the red flag, was the biggest beneficiary, having started 22nd before climbing through the field during the opening stages to sit eighth when action resumed.

Dennis Hauger similarly made strong progress, sitting sixth on the restart having begun the race in 17th.

Action resumed 20 minutes later after a clean-up operation, with Vesti maintaining his lead.

Martins, who had been running in second, was then hit with a drive-through penalty for failing to slow down for yellow flags, dropping him to eighth and promoting Maloney onto the podium.

Richard Verschoor finished fourth for Van Amersfoort Racing, with Hauger in fifth and Campos Racing rookie Kush Maini in sixth.

Stanek was seventh, with Martins, Crawford and Iwasa rounding off the top 10.

F2 Monaco - Feature race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Gap
1	7	Frederik Vesti
2	5	Theo Pourchaire	2.500
3	3	Zane Maloney	15.500
4	22	Richard Verschoor	21.600
5	1	Dennis Hauger	22.300
6	24	Kush Maini	25.300
7	20	Roman Staněk	27.300
8	6	Victor Martins	27.600
9	9	Jak Crawford	42.000
10	11	Ayumu Iwasa	44.300
11	8	Oliver Bearman	45.200
12	10	Isack Hadjar	46.000
13	2	Jehan Daruvala	54.500
14	23	Juan Manuel Correa	57.600
15	16	Roy Nissany	1'12.000
16	17	Brad Benavides	1'12.400
17	21	Clement Novalak	1'12.800
	25	Ralph Boschung
	14	Jack Doohan
	15	Amaury Cordeel
	4	Enzo Fittipaldi
	12	Arthur Leclerc
View full results