F2: De Vries Champion as Driving Standards Still an Issue

Nyck De Vries left Russia as the happiest Dutchman in the paddock, after wrapping up the FIA Formula 2 Championship at the Sochi Autodrom. The ART Grand Prix driver took victory in the opening race, his fourth of the season, to wrap up the title with 3 races to spare.

His former title rival Luca Ghiotto grabbed the second win on Sunday after a first corner melee left four of the five leaders either out or at the back of the grid, as a red flag was called. Both Nikita Mazepin and Nobuharu Matsushita were later cleared by the hospital, though does raise further questions about driving standards in the series.

Elsewhere, Nicholas Latifi now leads Ghiotto by 10 points after a podium in race one sees him head into the final round as favourite to take the vice-champion spot with four drivers in contention.

Qualifying proved to be a battle between Nicholas Latifi and Nyck de Vries with the Dutchman coming out on top and grabbing another four points to close in on his title. Latifi though would start second and with the long run to Turn 2, could yet get the run, on the Dutchman that could allow him to take victory.

Instead, a lightning start from the ART GP driver and mediocre get away from the DAMS driver meant that by the end of the first lap had opened up a few seconds over the Canadian and Callum Ilott who were battling behind. The pair had started on the quicker, but shorter-lived Super-soft tyres, with fellow championship rival Luca Ghiotto opting for the riskier option of fitting Mediums for the first half. The Italian had caught and passed both before they made their pitstop, but blistering pace from De Vries saw him close in the 32s gap to 26s.

By the time Ghiotto emerged, with three laps to go, he was behind De Vries, Latifi and Louis Deletraz. Ghiotto initially made it past the Carlin driver, but would finish fourth as a mistake passing Latifi destroyed his tyres, also locking up in the final corner and losing his podium to Deletraz. Sergio Sette Camara finished a quiet fifth in front of Nobuharu Matsushita.

Was F1 right to overlook the Dutchman?

The result was a decisive conclusion to De Vries title charge as Latifi’s failed charge, in which he was caught up fighting with Ghiotto, proved to be an anology for the season between the three drivers. Unlike his previous two predecessors though, De Vries will not be moving to F1, instead joining Mercedes in Formula E.

De Vries though knew this was going to be the case. After being dropped by McLaren’s Junior Pragramme at the start of the year, and seeing the driver shake up of 2018-19, a spot in F1 was always going to be hard to obtain and like Alexander Albon had made concessions elsewhere, rightfully. A hot prospect five years ago, when he finished third in FR3.5, a faulted year in GP3 and three years in F2 has seen the circus pass him by.

While his margin (and potentially points by Abu Dhabi) could make him a more decisive champion than Leclerc or Russell, it was never going to be enough in a field that featured few rookies and a plethera of experienced at the starp end. Statistically, his title is on the higher level than Pastor Maldonado, Jolyon Palmer, Davide Valsecchi, Giorgio Pantano and Fabio Leimer who all took four years to seal the deal, but like the last three, F1 values quick development over domination.

The result, he moves to FE alongside Stoffel Vandoorne. Himself a dropped McLaren Junior driver and second-teir champion.

Drivers Haven’t Learned from Hubert Accident

Of course, having secured the title, De Vries could easily have taken a backseat to proceedings on Sunday, perhaps helping teammate Nikita Mazepin, who started on reverse grid pole in front of his home fans. At the end of the race though, De Vries was second with Mazepin retired.

The Russian, who had entertained fans with his Turn 2-3 dicing with Mick Schumacher, did himself no favours on Sunday, ending Jack Aitken and Nobuharu Matsushita’s chances, seeing the latter transfered to the hospital.

Fortunately the Japanese and Honda driver was ok after checks, but after outbreaking himself into the first major turn, Mazepin had failed to go around both bollards when re-entering the track, running into Aitken, who he’d forced off in the first place. For the outsider it was obvious that Mazepin was desperate to rejoin and hadn’t seen Aitken when rounding the second bollard, sending the Russian back across the track and into the side of the innocent Matsushita.

Behind them, Louis Deletraz lost control, spinning over the first corner bump and almost hitting Sette Camara who also took to the run-off.

The presence of grass or gravel would have left Matsushita in the lead, Aitken, Mazepin and Camara at the back and Deletraz out after his spin. Whether this would have been the right result is up to you, but until F1 can find effective method to slow down cars, young drivers will continue to see it as an extension of the track.

Relying on drivers to self-regulate does not help in a series where results can make or break a career and team orders are non-existent. We saw this in F3 last round when Alex Peroni continued at full throttle over the bump at Parabolica, sending his car flying.

Of course, there is the other side to this; Peroni did not know the result of running over the bump and while Matsushita was kept overnight at the hospital, he will be fit to race at Abu Dhabi. FIA F2’s best quality is its close overtaking, but curtailing the young drivers racing handbook, are the organisers throttling the racing. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc’s agressive racing have lit up F1 in recent years, as wheel-to-wheel racing has become a desired outcome for single-seaters.

Finally though, we cannot forget the events of Spa-Francorchamps and the terrible consequences this tight racing can have if drivers are unsighted or cannot react in time, as well as the design of modern race circuits. It’s a point the race director raised with Autosport.com today.

“Frustrating, probably at times. You see the penalty that’s been handed out in F2, four penalty points and 15 grid spots is a pretty significant penalty which shows the severity of what happened.

“I don’t think that can be underestimated. Is it frustrating? Yes, at times. It’s one of those things that the nature of what we’ve got with a lot of circuits at the moments. It’s something we’ve got to try to evolve step-by-step to see what we can do.” – Michael Masi

Ferrari Academy Shines in Russia

Looking at it on paper, it was a mediocre weekend for Callum Ilott, Mick Schumacher and Giuliano Alesi, with Schumacher in particular walking awat with a double retirement.

Ferrari though will be pleased with what they saw on track. Schumacher in particular was running inside the top five after a blistering start from eleventh, dicing (and holding off) Mazepin as his tyres started to fade. An oil leak brought an end to what could have been a strong points run. Race two was not much better in terms of result, but as the Prema driver prepares for 2020, a strong racecraft will be vital.

Ilott as well showed promise. Qualifying saw him line up third behind the championship protagonists and was a thorn to Latifi in the early stages. Bad tyre management would see him drop outside the top ten, eventually salvaging ninth after a consistent second half.

He was handed a lifeline in race two as the Turn 2 pile-up left him second. In front of Nyck de Vries. The champion who proved to be a worthy adversary, overtaking him into T2, but a daring repass into Turn 3 will do much to prove his skill after the mistake that cost him silverware in Monza. Ultimately Ilott would lose the place, but still finished third for his second podium of the year.

Since Spa, the Sauber Junior Team driver has really found his feet. Pole in Monza, third at Russia and dicing with the champions on fresh tyres has seen him overtake Schumacher in the standings. Elsewhere, an eighth place for Alesi continues his points scoring run from Monza.

All three will be aware of the success of Robert Shwartzman who this weekend, secured the FIA F3 title. As a result, as the season winds down, we could see Ilott and Schumacher come alive, as they prove themselves for what could be a valuable 2020 campaign alongside another Ferrari junior rival.

Vice-Champion still up for grabs at Abu Dhabi

While De Vries may have wrapped up the title, both Latifi and Ghiotto will be in favourites to finish the season as number 2, with the pair split by just ten points as Ghiotto picked up his third win of the year at Sochi.

Race two’s first corner incident benefitted him the most, emerging as the leader after the chaos in front, despite starting fifth. He ran a mostly unchallenged race, with De Vries stuck behind Ilott in the early stages and failing to close the gap. A fourth place finish in the Feature Race along with a fastest lap saw him leave Russia with 29 points.

Rival Latifi would collect 28 as a second place in race one was followed up by a fourth and fastest lap. While Ghiotto’s extra point does not see him overtake Ghiotto, there was a change for the duo behind, with Sergio Sette Camara now two points ahead of Jack Aitken, after his worst weekend since the Red Bull Ring.

With 53 points between DAMS and UNI-Virtuosi in the Teams standings as well, plenty of eyes will be on the final stages of the Latifi/Ghiotto and DAMS/Virtuosi battle at Abu Dhabi.