The 2022 Yas Island FIA Formula 2 round was a motor racing event held between 18 and 20 November 2022 at the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was the final race of the 2022 Formula 2 Championship and was held in support of the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
After winning the Drivers' Championship with Felipe Drugovich, MP Motorsport also secured its first Teams' Championship in Formula 2 history after Drugovich finished runner-up in the Feature Race. Logan Sargeant ensured he had sufficient FIA Super License points to be promoted to a 2023 Formula One seat with Williams Racing by finishing fourth in the Drivers' Championship.
Report
Championship standings before the round
Drivers' Championship Brazilian racing driver Felipe Drugovich had already won the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Drivers' Championship in Monza, having extended an unassailable 77-point lead over his closest rival, Théo Pourchaire.
During the weekend of the 2022 United States Grand Prix, former Williams Racing Team Principal and CEO Jost Capito announced that Logan Sargeant would be promoted from the Williams Driver Academy to a Formula One race seat in 2023 if he finished high enough in the standings to qualify for an FIA Super Licence. Having already accumulated 29 Super Licence points, Sargeant would need to finish at least fifth in the Drivers' Championship (or sixth, without receiving any penalty points); Sargeant was in third place ahead of the Yas Island Formula 2 round.
Teams' Championship MP Motorsport, ART Grand Prix, and Carlin were in contention for the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Teams' Championship. Both MP Motorsport and ART Grand Prix were level on points; however, MP Motorsport was ahead on countback due to having won more races. Carlin were third in the standings, twenty-three points behind the two other title contenders.
Driver changes Trident driver Calan Williams parted ways with his team before the Yas Marina season finale. He was replaced by 2022 FIA Formula 3 vice champion Zane Maloney, who made his FIA Formula 2 Championship debut.
Van Amersfoort Racing driver David Beckmann was replaced by Juan Manuel Correa, who returned to Formula 2 for the first time since his accident in 2019.
Qualifying Qualifying was red-flagged twice. The first red flag was deployed seven minutes into the session, after Virtuosi driver Marino Sato spun out at Turn 14. Sato was unable to set a qualifying time within the 107% rule, but was granted permission by the stewards to start the race after setting acceptable times in practice. The session was green-flagged after a five-minute delay.
Despite having an earlier lap time deleted for track limits, Ayumu Iwasa qualified on pole with a lap time of 1:36.290. His teammate, Roy Nissany, locked out the front row for DAMS with a time which was 0.036 seconds slower. Carlin finished qualifying as the only other team with two drivers inside the top ten. Shortly after Iwasa's pole position lap, a second, session-ending red flag was deployed following Zane Maloney's spin at Turn 9.
Sprint race Richard Verschoor started the sprint race from pole, but was overtaken by eventual sprint race winner Liam Lawson on Lap 10. Felipe Drugovich made up four places from seventh place on the grid to finish in third. Dennis Hauger finished in fourth, while Amaury Cordeel secured his best Formula 2 finish in fifth place. Logan Sargeant held on to his starting position of sixth, despite dropping down to ninth on the opening lap; a red flag, deployed after Enzo Fittipaldi and Jehan Daruvala collided at Turn 3, enabled Sargeant to return to his original starting position for the rolling restart. Jack Doohan finished in seventh, unable to overtake Sargeant despite the American driver having a flat-spotted left front tyre. Roy Nissany was the final points finisher in eighth place.
Feature race Ayumu Iwasa won the feature race from pole position after battling Felipe Drugovich, whose second-place finish secured the 2022 Teams' Championship title for MP Motorsport. Liam Lawson finished in third, leapfrogging Carlin ahead of ART Grand Prix to finish second in the teams' standings. A virtual safety car was deployed on the opening lap after Ralph Boschung made contact with Juan Manuel Correa before spin out at Turn 9. Boschung retired from the race, having been unable to recover his car. Théo Pourchaire made the first overtake after racing resumed on Lap 3, demoting Dennis Hauger down to third. Drugovich followed soon after with a move on Roy Nissany to take second.
A marginally quicker pit stop allowed Lawson to overtake Hauger in the pit lane on Lap 8, allowing the Carlin driver to assume a net position of third, behind Iwasa and Drugovich. Jack Doohan pit on Lap 26, having been one of the few drivers starting on medium compound tyres; however, his front left tyre detached following his pit stop, forcing him to retire from the race and triggering another virtual safety car. Théo Pourchaire suffered a terminal mechanical issue after hitting a bird with four laps to go, causing him to retire from the race. Hauger and Logan Sargeant finished fourth and fifth respectively, with Amaury Cordeel, Richard Verschoor, Jüri Vips, Marcus Armstrong and Nissany the rest of the points finishers. Nissany received a five-second time penalty for track limits, dropping him down from his on-track finishing position of seventh.
Classification Qualifying Driver Entrant Time 117 Ayumu Iwasa DAMS 1:36.290 10 1 216 Roy Nissany DAMS +0.036 9 2 310 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix +0.082 8 3 411 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport +0.192 7 4 53 Jack Doohan Virtuosi Racing +0.220 6 5 66 Logan Sargeant Carlin +0.224 5 6 71 Dennis Hauger Prema Racing +0.260 4 7 825 Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort Racing +0.288 3 8 95 Liam Lawson Carlin +0.298 2 9 1020 Richard Verschoor Trident +0.298 1 10 117 Marcus Armstrong Hitech Grand Prix +0.329 11 11 122 Jehan Daruvala Prema Racing +0.340 12 12 1322 Enzo Fittipaldi Charouz Racing System +0.390 13 13 1415 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing +0.395 17 14 158 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix +0.504 14 15 169 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix +0.733 15 16 1712 Clément Novalak MP Motorsport +0.755 16 17 1824 Juan Manuel Correa Van Amersfoort Racing +0.794 18 18 1921 Zane Maloney Trident +0.810 19 19 2014 Olli Caldwell Campos Racing +0.918 20 20 2123 Tatiana Calderón Charouz Racing System +1.538 21 21107% time: 1:43.030 (+6.740)—4 Marino Sato Virtuosi Racing +23.455 22 22Source:
Notes – Ralph Boschung originally qualified fourteenth, but received a three-place grid drop for the next race he participates in (Sprint Race) for both rejoining the track in an unsafe manner and causing a collision with Théo Pourchaire at the previous round in Monza.
Sprint race Driver Entrant Laps Time/Retired Points 15 Liam Lawson Carlin23 1:11:53.868210 (1) 220 Richard Verschoor Trident23 +7.94318 311 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport23 +8.80376 41 Dennis Hauger Prema Racing23 +14.93745 525 Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort Racing23 +15.44934 66 Logan Sargeant Carlin23 +15.93853 73 Jack Doohan Virtuosi Racing23 +16.50162 816 Roy Nissany DAMS23 +17.31391 910 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix23 +17.5798 107 Marcus Armstrong Hitech Grand Prix23 +17.96811 119 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix23 +19.21315 128 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix23 +22.03114 1317 Ayumu Iwasa DAMS23 +24.16210 1412 Clément Novalak MP Motorsport23 +27.09516 1521 Zane Maloney Trident23 +33.86019 1614 Olli Caldwell Campos Racing23 +34.03420 1715 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing23 +36.43017 1824 Juan Manuel Correa Van Amersfoort Racing23 +38.16418 194 Marino Sato Virtuosi Racing23 +58.71022 2023 Tatiana Calderón Charouz Racing System23 +1:14.89021 DNF2 Jehan Daruvala Prema Racing0 Collision12 DNF22 Enzo Fittipaldi Charouz Racing System0 Collision13 Fastest lap set by Liam Lawson: 1:39.292 (lap 7)Source:
Notes: – Juan Manuel Correa originally finished fifteenth, but later received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Marino Sato, dropping him down to eighteenth place.
Feature race Driver Entrant Laps Time/Retired Points 117 Ayumu Iwasa DAMS33 57:02.908125 (2) 211 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport33 +0.830418 35 Liam Lawson Carlin33 +1.348915 41 Dennis Hauger Prema Racing33 +13.440712 56 Logan Sargeant Carlin33 +14.064610 625 Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort Racing33 +15.71988 720 Richard Verschoor Trident33 +18.162106 88 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix33 +20.279154 97 Marcus Armstrong Hitech Grand Prix33 +20.684112 1016 Roy Nissany DAMS33 +22.18121 119 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix33 +22.73216 1212 Clément Novalak MP Motorsport33 +23.48920 132 Jehan Daruvala Prema Racing33 +24.29812 1422 Enzo Fittipaldi Charouz Racing System33 +27.61613 154 Marino Sato Virtuosi Racing33 +28.24622 1621 Zane Maloney Trident33 +31.75418 1724 Juan Manuel Correa Van Amersfoort Racing33 +32.44617 1823 Tatiana Calderón Charouz Racing System33 +45.11621 1910 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix31 Gearbox3 2014 Olli Caldwell Campos Racing29 Driveshaft19 DNF3 Jack Doohan Virtuosi Racing25 Wheel nut5 DNF15 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing0 Spun off14Fastest lap set by Clément Novalak: 1:39.146 (lap 24)Source:
Final championship standings
Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points 1 Felipe Drugovich 265 2 Théo Pourchaire 164 4 3 Liam Lawson 149 1 4 Logan Sargeant 148 4 5 Ayumu Iwasa 141
Teams' Championship standings Team Points 1 MP Motorsport 305 1 2 Carlin 297 1 3 ART Grand Prix 281 4 Prema Racing 241 5 Hitech Grand Prix 207
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Note: Bold names include the Drivers' and Teams' Champion respectively.
See also 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
References
External links Official website