F2: Daruvala returns to the podium in France

Jehan Daruvala bounced back from a run of poor results in Silverstone and Austria to finish on the podium in France – his sixth podium appearance this season. Despite lacking the pace of some of the frontrunners, Daruvala held on to finish second in the Sprint Race.

• Daruvala second in French GP Sprint Race
• P10 to P7 in Feature Race
• 4^th overall, 79 points off the lead

Daruvala second in French GP sprint race

Daruvala qualified 10^th for the feature race, but there was a silver lining – this handed him pole for the sprint race under the reverse grid rules. He held on to that lead after a strong start, but fellow Red Bull junior Liam Lawson was mounting the pressure. Using his Carlin car’s superior straight-line speed, Lawson swept around the outside into Turn 1 to take the lead.  Furthermore, the Indian was left struggling for pace after making light contact with Lawson during that move.

Marcus Armstrong tried a move on Lap 19, forcing Daruvala to take the escape road – a move for which Armstrong was handed a five-second penalty. With the Hitech driver left defending from a crowd of drivers behind him, Daruvala was able to hold on to second place.

P7 in feature race

Starting 10th on the grid for the Feature Race was not ideal, but his strategy to go for a longer opening stint saw him finish seventh overall. It was another Red Bull junior who took victory, with rookie Ayumu Iwasa taking his maiden F2 win.

Nevertheless, Daruvala is happy to be walking away with a decent points haul after a post-race penalty in Austria saw him lose out on a potential win. “It’s good to be back on the podium after what happened in Silverstone and Austria. We were struggling with pace down the straights but had some good battles to finish second,” said Daruvala, who recently completed his second F1 test with McLaren.

The Indian added, “we would have finished even higher in the Feature Race with our strategy to run a long first stint, but we gambled on a safety car and stayed out a bit longer than ideal. Other than that, it was a solid weekend for us. We still have some areas to work on and I’m confident we’ll come back stronger next weekend in Hungary.”

2022 F2 standings

The French GP saw Daruvala add 14 more points to his tally, but he’s still fourth overall – 22 points behind Logan Sargeant, 40 points behind Theo Pourchaire and 79 points behind leader Felipe Drugovich. With this likely being Daruvala’s final year in F2, he’ll be hoping to find more pace to start qualifying up ahead if he wants to join the championship fight.

Also see:

Why Jehan Daruvala lost out on Austria F2 win

Jehan Daruvala eligible for Super Licence after McLaren F1 test