Jehan Daruvala 10th In F2 Round 9 Feature Race At Mugello

Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala continued his top 10 momentum with the Indian driver finishing 11th in the feature race of round 9 of the FIA Formula 2 World Championship at Mugello, Italy. While his teammate and fellow Red Bull junior driver Yuki Tsunoda finished 8th at the line, a 5-second time penalty dropped him down to 16th.. 

Starting 6th, Daruvala initially had a good launch off the line but was bottled-necked and dropped to 8th by the end of Lap 1. Daruvala’s first stint was a tough one as he was dropping places against the alternative strategy runners. This was further compounded by the Indian driver claiming after the race that his radio failed. This meant that without any information when to pit, a double-stack pitstop ensued, costing Daruvala a lot of time against the cars ahead.

Despite that, Daruvala was showing consistent pace with the fastest lap of the race and was running in 9th once again after everyone took their mandatory pitstop. If that’s not all, a safety car on lap 24/33 was called out. Daruvala took a gamble by pitting for a fresh set of tyres, and was set to scythe his way up the field.

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But before the Indian could make full use of his tyre advantage, another safety car was called out just 3 laps later. And with just a 3 lap sprint to the finish, the Indian driver couldn’t make up enough ground and finished 10th at the line. Overall a race that could have been a lot better for Daruvala. 

Jehan Daruvala’s starting position for tomorrow’s 120km (23 laps) or 45-minute sprint race, with the top eight finishers from the feature race lining up in a reversed grid order. Considering the high tyre degradation at Mugello, the Indian driver can hope to make his way up the field in the final race of the weekend. 

The sprint race will commence on Sunday at 3:25pm (IST) and will be streamed live on the official F1 YouTube channel.