2022 FIA F2 Round 5 Monaco Feature Race: 8th Place Finish For Jehan Daruvala

Prema Racing’s Jehan Daruvala ended the fifth round of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 championship with an eighth place finish at the feature race in Monaco. His teammate and fellow Red Bull junior driver, Dennis Hauger finished in seventh place.

Starting eighth on the grid, the Indian driver held on to that position on the opening lap, but as is a classic case of the Monaco street circuit, its constrained nature meant the Indian driver was stuck in a train of cars with very rare passing opportunities. With that in mind, Daruvala and his teammate Hauger decided to pit very early to pull off an undercut strategy on the cars up front when they also made their mandatory pitstop.

The strategy seemed to be working for both Prema drivers at the time as no traffic for a few laps meant they could unleash their true pace on track. Unfortunately the safety car came out, which allowed the late-stoppers to make a free change of tyres, thus negating the time loss and coming out largely in the same position. That meant the rest of the 42-lap feature race turned into more of a damage-limiting race for the Prema squad, with Daruvala and Hauger crossing the chequered flag in eighth and seventh positions respectively.

 

While this result still has Jehan Daruvala third in the drivers standings, championship leader Felipe Drugovich and second-placed Theo Pourchaire finishing first and second in the feature race means the points gap to Daruvala has grown significantly.  

The Indian driver won’t have to wait too long to stage a counterattack to the championship leaders as after a week’s break we will see Formula 2 head to Baku in Azerbaijan.