A crazy opening Formula 2 race at Monza had Liam Lawson make a great start, drop to nearly dead last before eventually finishing almost exactly where he started.
Lawson started in P7 and would come home in P5 despite being well outside a competitive position for some time after breaking his front wing.
Surprisingly, lap one was relatively tame. Hitech’s Juri Vips led from the front row, while Lawson maintained his starting position.
Lap two had Lawson make light work of Ralph Boschung along the main straight, though he was fortunate to weave through the chaos up ahead.
Dan Ticktum ran wide at the first chicane amid a battle with Theo Pourchaire. A slight swivel from Pourchaire under brakes caught Ticktum off guard, and the Brit missed the corner.
However, Ticktum rejoined the circuit at a sharp angle and was pitched into a spin.
Stranded in the middle of the road, he was hit on the way past by Felipe Drugovich.
Ticktum’s day was over and the safety car was deployed for the first time.
All the drama meant Lawson was up to fourth at the restart, and he immediately went on the attack of Pourchaire in third.
Lawson had a half-hearted lunge into the first chicane. But on the corner exit he made slight contact with Pourchaire’s rear-end.
The collision was enough to damage Lawson’s front wing, and the Red Bull Junior was compelled to make a pitstop.
Lawson vented his frustration over his in-car radio, arguing that Pourchaire had slowed on the exit, which caused him to run into the back of the ART driver.
However, race control saw otherwise, and the incident was passed over for investigation.
The race would then fluctuate between periods of green and yellow as several drivers ran into difficulties.
Only 13 drivers finished on the lead lap.
But one man that steered clear of the trouble was Marcus Armstrong, who was flirting with a top ten result after starting 17th.
Unfortunately, Armstrong would cross the line in 11th, one position shy of securing pole position for the second sprint race tonight.
Meanwhile, Lawson was on a charge. During the pitstop he had also donned a fresh set of soft tyres, which were providing a significant pace advantage.
The Kiwi had the speed in qualifying yesterday, and that coupled with a hint of anger for the Pourchaire clash meant he was making swift progress.
He was in 12th for the final safety car restart on lap 13 of 21. Three laps later and Lawson was inside the top ten.
Progress continued to be made and Lawson took the chequered flag in P6. A penalty for Robert Shwartzman gifted the Kiwi a free position.
Pourchaire would go on to claim the win. Vips controlled most of the race but forfeited the lead on lap 15.
Guanyu Zhou and Christian Lundgaard completed the podium.
The next F2 sprint race is scheduled to start at 12.45 am NZT tonight.