FIA Formula 2 heads to Abu Dhabi for final round of the season 2022 17.11.2022: FIA FORMULA 2 World Championship Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi 18-20 November 2022 After 13 venues, 26 races and 1,861 points scored so far, it all comes down to this – the 14th and final round of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 season under the floodlights at Ya

    
FIA FORMULA 2 World Championship
Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi
18-20 November 2022



After 13 venues, 26 races and 1,861 points scored so far, it all comes down to this – the 14th and final round of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 season under the floodlights at Yas Marina Circuit.  



Although the Drivers’ Championship fight was wrapped up last time out in Monza, there’s still plenty on the line throughout the field.



From the Teams’ Championship title, the battle for the Anthoine Hubert Award for the top rookie, a potential Formula 1 seat and an emotional return to the grid for Juan Manuel Correa, the upcoming two races will give our stars of the ‘22 campaign one last chance to shine with an eye to next year...



WHAT TO EXPECT



Sitting pretty on 241 points, Champion Felipe Drugovich will be seeing out his final F2 weekend in style, as the MP Motorsport driver gets his Formula 1 weekend debut. He’ll be behind the wheel for Aston Martin in FP1, alongside Logan Sargeant, Jack Doohan and Liam Lawson.  



Meanwhile, Théo Pourchaire currently sits in second with a 29-point advantage over Sargeant. It’s a crucial round for the Carlin driver, who will graduate to F1 with Williams Racing for 2023 should he earn the required Super Licence points. Alongside that, he’ll be locked in a fierce fight for the top rookie honours, with Doohan and Enzo Fittipaldi only nine points adrift and hungry to take home the Anthoine Hubert Award.




LAST TIME OUT – MONZA



Having led the Standings since the fourth round in Spain, the penultimate round saw Felipe Drugovich make history for MP Motorsport as he was crowned the 2022 F2 Champion, with an impressive tally of five wins, a further four podiums and three pole positions to his name. Yet the Brazilian’s path to glory around the Temple of Speed was far from straightforward...



Matching Drugovich for the most pole positions this season, Jack Doohan set out to put the pressure on his fellow rookie rivals as he netted P1 for the third time in 2022.



On the pace throughout the highly competitive 30-minute session, the Australian managed to pip Liam Lawson to the top spot by 0.126s, clocking in a 1:31.641 around the Autodromo Nationale Monza. Marcus Armstrong matched his performance from Practice to take third, as Drugovich put one hand on the title in fourth, with his nearest rival Théo Pourchaire in P14.



It was a long time coming for Jüri Vips in the Sprint Race. The Hitech Grand Prix driver held his nerve to claim his first victory of the season, going late on the brakes into Parabolica after a Safety Car restart to breeze past Frederik Vesti and never looked back.  



Things weren’t so smooth sailing for Drugovich. After being caught up in a crash on the opening lap, the MP driver was forced to sit on the sidelines. He and his Dutch team waited with bated breath on the pit wall, but as the chequered flag was waved, jubilant celebrations rang out as the 22-year-old etched his name into the history books as F2’s sixth Champion.  


Determined to give PREMA Racing something to celebrate on home soil after his Sprint Race podium, Jehan Daruvala remained cool, calm and collected, making the most of Monza’s abundance of overtaking opportunities to go from sixth all the way to his first victory of the year.



 Meanwhile, Vesti went two for two as he brought home second for ART Grand Prix, ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi, who was promoted to the podium following Ayumu Iwasa’s disqualification for a technical infringement.






- Alexa Quintin, photo Formula Motorsport Ltd