Daruvala wins in Abu Dhabi as Piastri seals 2021 F2 title

Jehan Daruvala returned to the top step of the podium with a hard-earned win at the Abu Dhabi GP’s first Sprint Race. The same race also saw Oscar Piastri clinch the 2021 F2 title as he crossed the line in third place.

• Daruvala picks up his second win of the season
• Piastri wins third junior championship in three years

Daruvala wins Abu Dhabi GP Sprint Race 1

Qualifying has often been Daruvala and his team Carlin’s shortcoming this season, with the Indian racer pointing out that the team has struggled to find that optimum one-lap pace. He managed to qualify 10^th for the feature race, but there was a silver lining to this – it handed him pole position for the reverse-grid Sprint Race 1.

He got a good launch at the start, but soon had to defend from Felipe Drugovich. The Brazilian managed to pull alongside Daruvala twice on the first lap, but the Indian was able to hold on to the lead. The two maintained position for the next few laps, but by the mid-way point, Drugovich once again started putting pressure on Daruvala.

But the Red Bull junior had expertly managed his tyres to successfully defend from Drugovich. Towards the end of the race, he’d pulled open a sufficient gap to comfortably cross the line first, taking his second win of the season.

“After struggling in the early part of the weekend, it is fantastic to win here. I was under a lot of pressure in the first few laps as well as later on. But I remained confident and really enjoyed the racing. It’s a good result for the team, so thank you to everyone who has worked hard to make this happen,” said Daruvala.

He finished Sprint Race 2 in seventh place. He followed that up with a 11th place result in the feature race, after receiving a penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Piastri crowned F2 champion

Piastri’s charge from 10^th to third in Sprint Race 1 was enough for him to wrap up the 2021 F2 drivers’ championship. With this, the Australian completes an impressive hat-trick, having won the 2020 F3 championship and 2019 Formula Renault Trophy.

He’s only the third F2 rookie champion, following in the footsteps of Charles Leclerc and George Russell. The result has also helped Prema win the Teams’ Championship.

Piastri further wrapped up the season in style, winning the final feature race as well. He will now be eyeing a seat in F1; he’s already been announced as Alpine’s official F1 reserve driver for 2022.

Also see:

Daruvala bags F2 podium finish in Russia