F2 Monaco: Inspired strategy, VSC gifts O'Sullivan surprise feature victory

Williams junior Zak O’Sullivan delivered a shock maiden Formula 2 win in the Monaco feature race as a late virtual safety car stole victory from Isack Hadjar.

O’Sullivan vaulted up the order having started from 15th on the grid after a late incident involving Zane Maloney and Joshua Durksen flipped the script.

Campos driver Hadjar had been on course for victory and controlling proceedings once poleman Richard Verschoor (Trident) suddenly slowed and eventually retired, but he was left furious and reluctant to speak after seeing O’Sullivan's ART Grand Prix machine emerge from the pits ahead.

Knowing that the only chance of points on Sunday was a late safety car intervention or similar, ART had left the Briton out until lap 40 of 42 on the soft tyres, and this gamble was dramatically rewarded as O'Sullivan became the season's eighth different winner.

Despite Hadjar’s fury, the Red Bull junior moves to second in the championship, with third-placed Paul Aron (Hitech) now hitting the summit as a result of Maloney ultimately finishing tenth.

The start of an F2 feature race is more often than not a more tranquil affair than the sprint outing, with drivers safe in the knowledge that pit strategy and safety cars could elevate them up the order.

This was largely in evidence on Sunday, aside from a moment of minor contact between Jak Crawford (DAMS) and Invicta driver Kush Maini at the Grand Hotel hairpin which put the American out.

The start had also provided the latest nightmare in a difficult season for Alpine-backed Victor Martins. Having topped his qualifying group to line up second on the grid, the ART driver bogged down and dropped like a stone to P15 within moments of the lights going out.

But the real drama came in lap 19 when Verschoor reported an ultimately race-ending problem while leading the race. The issue appeared to be limiting the Dutchman's power output and, although able to retain his position until the pit stops, he was swamped by Hadjar, Aron and the rest of the field shortly after returning to the track.

Isack Hadjar, Campos Racing,

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Having hopped the Nouvelle Chicane his defence against Aron, Verschoor was handed a five-second penalty, which he served before completing a final tour and pitting to retire.

A further post-race investigation was announced after he removed the steering wheel and threw it from the car before coming to a stop in the pits.

Also in the pitstop phase, Prema pairing Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman provided some close-quarters action, running wheel-to-wheel after the former returned to the track. Ultimately, Bearman sealed the position with a cutback manoeuvre at the Grand Hotel hairpin.

Having followed Franco Colapinto for some time, Antonelli was again at the centre of the action on lap 37, when he launched a bold move on the MP Motorsport driver into Antony Noghes to climb into then eighth place.

But by the time Juan Manuel Correa (DAMS) and Dennis Hauger (MP) had made their stops, Antonelli had to settle for seventh ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta) and the recovering Martins.

Then came the twist in the tale on lap 40, when O’Sullivan on the alternate strategy was gifted a free stop as Maloney and Durksen came together as the latter returned to the track from his own stop.

Having entered the pits before the VSC was called, O’Sullivan’s stop was deemed legal and allowed the ART driver to steal victory from Hadjar in the most dramatic of circumstances.

F2 Monaco Feature Race Result

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix	2	42	-				25
2	I. Hadjar Campos Racing	20	42	+0.500 0.5	0.500			18
3	P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight	17	42	+8.000 8.0	7.500			15
4	O. Bearman Prema Powerteam	3	42	+9.100 9.1	1.100			12
5	J. Correa DAMS Lucas Oil	8	42	+9.500 9.5	0.400			10
6	D. Hauger MP Motorsport	11	42	+9.900 9.9	0.400			8		1
7	A. Antonelli Prema Powerteam	4	42	+17.500 17.5	7.600			6
8	G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing	10	42	+17.800 17.8	0.300			4
9	V. Martins ART Grand Prix	1	42	+18.000 18.0	0.200			2
10	Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport	5	42	+26.500 26.5	8.500			1
11	T. Barnard PHM AIX Racing	25	42	+26.900 26.9	0.400
12	E. Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing	14	42	+27.400 27.4	0.500
13	F. Colapinto MP Motorsport	12	42	+30.200 30.2	2.800
14	P. Martí Campos Racing	21	42	+31.600 31.6	1.400
15	R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport	6	42	+32.300 32.3	0.700
16	R. Staněk Trident	23	42	+33.300 33.3	1.000
17	K. Maini Invicta Racing	9	42	+33.700 33.7	0.400
dnf	J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing	24	39	3 laps					Accident
dnf	R. Verschoor Trident	22	28	14 laps					Retirement	2
dnf	R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing	15	18	24 laps					Retirement
dnf	A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight	16	6	36 laps					Retirement
dnf	J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil	7	41						Retirement
View full results