Liam Lawson and Marcus Armstrong have missed out on the points in the Formula 2 Feature Race at Zandvoort, both finishing outside the top ten.
It was Felipe Drugovich who took the victory in Sunday’s race with the Brazilian driver now within a hair of winning the 2022 drivers’ championship. Richard Verschoor took second in his home race while Ayumu Iwasa rounded out the podium.
An early red flag and multiple Safety Car restarts led to the race going to time rather than the allotted 40 lap distance.
Lawson had a solid start to his race in sixth while Armstrong followed behind in eighth, both avoiding the first lap chaos.
By the first restart on lap six, Armstrong put the pressure on Clement Novalak by trying to go around the outside of him on turn one but ran out of room on the exit, forcing him to back out.
The first of the pitstops came in lap 13 with Lawson and Armstrong being jetted up to third and fourth respectively as they stayed out on track.
A loose wheel saw Marino Sato end up in the wall, bringing out another safety car on lap 17.
The reappearance of the Safety Car ruined Lawson, Armstrong, Frederik Vesti and Theo Pourchaire’s strategy, with all four yet to make their mandatory stop. Rules for the Zandvoort weekend prevented them from doing so under Safety Car due to the lack of space in the pit lane.
The Safety Car was withdrawn entering Lap 22 but Lawson left it as late as possible to make his getaway. It caught out plenty behind and contact between several drivers left a number out on the spot.
Australian Jack Doohan was one of those who got caught up in the melee, tagged by Richard Verschoor from behind. The Virtuosi driver was out along with Novalak and Tatiana Calderon and the Safety Car was deployed once more.
Armstrong immediately entered the pits for his stop while Lawson stayed out with 15 laps to go.
But after the two had completed their stops, it was too late to make up any places with both finishing down in 13th and 14th respectively.
However, Lawson was moved up into 12th and Armstrong into 13th after David Beckmann was handed a 10 second time penalty.
There are still points to be had for Lawson who currently sits fifth in the championship standings along with Armstrong who is tenth.
Up next is round 13 hosted at Monza, Italy on September 9 to 11.
Main image: Liam Lawson Facebook
