A Monza victory
After a rocky start to the 2021 season, Jehan Daruvala strikes back with a win at the Temple of Speed
FORMULA 2, AFTER A LEAVE of two months, returned to Monza and Indian driver Jehan Daruvala had a strong weekend, giving the front-runners a fight in qualifying and winning one of the three races held over the weekend.
Jehan displayed a competitive pace in free practice and also secured P2 in qualifying. In Sprint Race 1 (SR1), it was visible that Jehan had the pace to fight for victory, but he failed to capitalise on it on track – he started from P2 on the grid but only finished in P9. After a race debrief with the team and a few setup changes overnight, Jehan had the opportunity to make the best out of a P2 start for Sprint Race 2 (SR2).
With the lights out in SR2, Jehan got good traction off the line and was sideby-side with pole-sitter David Beckmann right into turn 1. With some late braking and faith in the car, Daruvala got the lead as they came out of Variante. There was a Safety Car period just as he started to edge away but a clean restart saw him out of any potential danger. Daruvala had the fastest and the most consistent lap times when compared to his rivals. In the end, Jehan took the chequered flag at the Temple of Speed. This was his second win in F2.
The Feature Race was a different story for the Red Bull backed driver. He started from P2 but this time, cold tyres caused Jehan to lose a few positions at the start. The team pulled a fast pit-stop and got him back in podium contention but after losing wheel-to-wheel battles with Guanyu Zhou and Dan Ticktum, Jehan crossed the line in P5.
Jehan snatched 25 points from the Monza weekend and now stands at P7 in the driver’s championship with 81 points. With three race weeks to go in the F2 calendar, Jehan has the opportunity to finish this season on a high and prove his worth for a future F1 seat. ⌧
DARUVALA SNATCHED 25 POINTS FROM THE MONZA WEEKEND