F2 Saudi Arabia: Daruvala on podium after strong recovery drive

Jehan Daruvala charged through the field to finish third in the 2022 F2 Saudi Arabian GP feature race. This is the Indian driver’s second podium finish this season – he’d earlier finished second in the Bahrain GP sprint race.

• Daruvala encountered mechanical problems in qualifying
• 7th in sprint race, 3rd in feature race
• 6th in overall drivers’ standings

Daruvala hits trouble in qualifying

Daruvala’s best qualifying lap time was only good enough to place him 14th. However, after performing some checks, Prema discovered an unnamed component issue on his car. With the issue resolved, he still had a steep recovery drive ahead of him.

Starting the sprint race from 13^th on the grid, Daruvala gained a handful of places to finish seventh and collected two points for the championship battle.

Daruvala goes from P14 to P3 in Jeddah

Starting the feature race on soft tyres, Daruvala had a blistering start and quickly picked up some positions. He then pitted early and pulled off a consistent second stint. In addition to the places he gained out on track, the 23-year-old moved further up once all the late stoppers dived into the pits.

His charge up the field ultimately saw him clinch the final spot on the podium, behind winner Felipe Drugovich and Richard Verschoor. Speaking after the race, Daruvala said the drive highlighted Prema’s strong race pace, but added that it’s important to start qualifying in front from now on.

"I think it was a very good race overall. To be on the podium from P14 was the best we could do. After the issues in qualifying, to be seventh and third in the races was damage limitation. I think our strategy worked quite well. I wanted clean air as we knew that the car was really good in clean air, so we made the call to box early, and it paid off. We had a great pace after that, and in the end, it is what gave us the podium. Going from 14th to 3rd gives me a lot of confidence, now we need to start more at the front,” he said.

2022 F2 championship standings

Daruvala is currently sixth in the overall championship standings with 25 points – on par with Theo Pourchaire and 18 points off leader Drugovich. The next round will be at Imola on April 22-24.

Also see:

Jehan Daruvala on his F1 ambitions: I must perform well this year