Spa weekend for the lower categories
- Cristina Mazzotti
- Aug 30, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 10, 2022
We can firmly say that as usual the iconic Spa weekend delivered a proper show.
For sure Spa racing weekends are never boring and this weekend was no exception, especially the lower categories which have been giving us the chills all year long. In other words, Spa and F2/F3 are a match made in heaven providing us unique emotions and unforgettable moments.
F2 and F3 in comparison
If F3 showed us once again what fun is, on the other side F2 deceived us a bit: in F3 the fight for the title is closer than ever, with 5 contenders that will go for broke in the last 2 rounds of the season. In F2 instead is not all fun and games always: the championship seems to already be definitive, surely the high level of the drivers on track plays a big role in the races as they seem not wanting to risk too much.
Over the weekend though we witnessed something quite unique: two Brazilian drivers, Drugovich and Collet both from MP Motorsport’s team, took pole position for the feature races in F2 and F3 respectively. What a loot for the Dutch team, that has been surprising everyone this year.
If MP Motorsport is managing to be competitive in both championships, surely is not the case of teams like Prema, Trident and Charouz, which are not standing out all over. The 2 Italian teams, are actually insanely competitive in F3: Prema got all of its driver fighting for the championship title and Trident almost grazed an amazing triplet on Sunday’s feature race. But F2 isn’t looking as bright for both of the teams: Hauger and Daruvala are often in everybody’s sights for mistakes or misfortunes, while Trident seems to only be unleashing the potential of Verschoor. Charouz isn’t looking any brighter though: in F2 it’s Fittipaldi who’s been bringing attention to the team, scoring points consistently and by also getting a few podiums. In F3 the situation doesn’t get better than that: Pizzi’s 3rd place in SPA’s qualifying seems to be a small consolation amongst the gaps of the Czech team.
Bearman's climb in the championship
The Belgian weekend brought much joy to the Brit driving for Prema, but he’s not the only one. Let’s go over the weekend: the qualifying session in Spa played a fundamental role for the championship contenders. The surprises start with Jak Crawford, finding himself out of the games for a mistake; the mixed conditions of the track didn’t help neither Lecrerc nor Martins, which didn’t manage to make a clean lap without traffic. Hadjar’s bad luck strikes again, his vehicle stopped for a problem in the middle of the track. The championship contenders all started from P20 onwards.
All that could’ve of happened certainly did in the sprint race: big scare after the crash between Maloney and Goethe. In fact the collision between them caused a red flag; no further action was taken on the incident and the two drivers luckily walked away from it safe. This one crash took away the attention from the collision between O’Sullivan and Correa: the Brit collided into the ART GP driver, taking away from him the opportunity to fight for the podium. After the restart fun didn’t lack: Leclerc, Hadjar and Crawford managed to fight their way up. Impressively the American, who was starting last, gained 19 positions crossing the line P11, just outside the points. As per usual penalties were given: Edgar found himself watching the podium closely after he was given a 5 sec penalty for colliding into Colapinto. Martins instead received a drive through penalty for jump start. All of this though, is secondary to the extraordinary win taken by Bearman: the British driver did an amazing race starting from P5. His win got him 10 points which put him on the fight for the title after overtaking Leclerc in the championship.
The feature race didn’t disappoint with its turns of events: in the first lap Maini collides into Pizzi and right after into Martins, taking away the chance of a hypothetical podium for Pizzi who was starting P3, and forcing Martins to retire. Was everyone expecting a comeback like the one of the sprint race from the championship contenders? Well this wasn’t the case. The three drivers didn’t manage to reach the points field which certainly didn’t make their disastrous weekend any better. If on the one hand Maloney had been at the heart of many discussions for his collision with Goethe in the Sprint race, he redeemed himself in the feature race taking a well-deserved win.
He shared the podium with his fellow teammate Stanek and the winner of the Sprint race, Bearman, which managed to secure a 3rd place after the 5s penalty given to Collet. Bearman’s performance over the weekend brought him a 2nd place in the championship just 1 point behind Hadjar. The situation concerning the Italian drivers isn’t looking any good: Trulli was disqualified from the Sprint race for some changes made to his car under red flag regime. Malvestiti and Pizzi instead, were forced to retire in the Feature race.
Honorable mentions go to Goethe, which at his 2nd race in the category has shown big potential, and also to Trident, that managed to place all of its cars in the points. The Italian team was impressively fast in Spa and considering the similar characteristics of the track will it be the same in Zandvoort and Monza?
Drugovich once again proves to be the strongest
This year F2 hasn’t been quite about twists and turns like F3, but it surely entertained us in Spa. In quali the Brazilian flag was brought up high: Drugovich and Fittipaldi qualified 1st and 2nd . Surprising was the return of Tatiana Calderon to F2, backed up by “La Bichota” Karol G. Tatiana took the place of the Turkish Bolukbasi alongside Fittipaldi. Boschung also returned to F2 after taking a break because of some physical problems.
Sprint race got action from the start: Daruvala’s car turned off while taking place on the grid, not giving the Indian driver the opportunity to even start the race. A masterpiece was the one regarding MP Motorsport and Drugovich, a perfect strategy that left everyone speechless, crossing the finish line in P4 after starting P10. Great race also from Lawson who not only managed to win but also took fastest lap of the race.
Not much to say about the feature race: Doohan wins the race as a real champ, he takes back to back victory in the feature race of Spa, where he won with Trident in F3 the previous year. His fellow academy mate Olli Caldwell could only watch the podium as a spectator after receiving a race ban. The race didn’t help Fittipaldi, who lost places from the beginning of the race and and also made a few mistakes. F2 also didn’t escape the penalties, with Hauger and Armstrong, who battled the whole race, receiving 5s penalties for different reasons. Very unlucky was Pourchaire’s race, forced to retire due to an electrical problem to the car: the French driver went out of the car in tears, his hopes of winning the championship seem to be fading away.
Not even the time to breathe that there’s Zandvoort awaiting: what emotions will the Dutch weekend bring us?
Stay tuned...
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