Armstrong P5 in feature race, loose wheel costs Lawson big time

Liam Lawson lost the Formula 2 championship lead overnight in Saudi Arabia, retiring from the feature race with a loose wheel.

It meant Marcus Armstrong was the sole Kiwi to score points, finishing fifth to match his best result of the year.

Armstrong was flirting around the edges of the podium for most of his first stint. He would struggle a tad following his pitstop, losing fourth place with a few laps remaining.

The result makes up for Armstrong’s clumsy spin in the weekend’s earlier race.

His track record this season now reads: DNF, P5, DNF, P5.

“Hard race,” he said. “Feeling like there wasn’t much left on the table.”

As for Lawson, his podium streak came to a cruel end when his left-front wheel wasn’t fitted properly at the pitstop.

The Red Bull junior pulled over at the end of the pitlane, retiring on the spot.

Before then, Lawson was also in podium contention and had been running as high as third.

Victory for Felipe Drugovich means the Brazilian is the new championship leader. He has an 11-point advantage over Lawson, who is second.

Armstrong’s two fifth-place finishes this year has him seventh in the standings.

The feature race was surprisingly dull, given how chaotic the sprint race unfolded.

There we no safety cars or incidents. Besides Lawson, the only other DNF was Theo Pourchaire, who lost gears and crawled back to the pits.

F2 has a month’s pause before the third round in Imola, the first time the series would have raced there.