The 2019 Sochi FIA Formula 2 round consisted of a pair of Formula Two motor races that took place on 28 and 29 September 2019 at the Sochi Autodrom in Sochi, Russia. It was the eleventh and penultimate round of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship.
Nyck de Vries of ART Grand Prix set the fastest time in qualifying for the feature race. He won the feature race, and won the driver's championship with three races remaining in the season. In the sprint race that followed, Italian Luca Ghiotto took the victory for Virtuosi Racing ahead of de Vries.
The race weekend consisted of two races–feature race and sprint. The grid order for the feature race was determined based on the times set during qualification. The pole-sitter of the feature race received four championship points. Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers in the feature race.[6] The feature race ran for 163.744km (101.746mi) and consisted of 28 laps around the circuit.[1]
The grid for the sprint race were based on the results of the feature race with the top eight drivers having their positions reversed.[6] The sprint race was a shorter version with 21 laps.[1] Points are awarded to the top 8 classified finishers in the Sprint race. Two points were given to the driver who sets the fastest lap inside the top ten in both the feature and sprint races.[6]
Qualifying
The qualifying session started under a dark cloud cover with a 60% chance of rain. Luca Ghiotto, who was amongst the first drivers to venture out, warned of rain falling on parts of the circuit. Nicolas Latifi set the initial fastest time of 1:48.060, ahead of the championship leader Nyck de Vries, with Ghiotto in third. With eight minutes to go in the session, more rainfall came in, and the drivers scrambled to set a faster lap time before the track got wet. de Vries snatched the pole position in a last gasp flying lap, ahead of Latifi in second, and Callum Ilott in third.[7]
On a dry track, de Vries led the drivers from the line, with the top ten largely unaltered. Mick Schumacher rose to seventh after he gained multiple places during the start. While Ilott moved down the order, Ghiotto moved up the order to third, before he overtook Latifi and de Vries to take the lead. Apart from De Vries and Latifi, the other top six runners were on harder tyres, and an alternate tyre strategy. When both the drivers pitted early, they moved down the order. However, when Ghiotto ultimately pitted late in the race, he came behind both De Vries and Latifi, and Louis Delétraz. The top three maintained their positions, with de Vries winning the race, and the world championship. Latifi finished second, and Delétraz won his maiden podium.[9]
Nikita Mazepin started on the pole position for the sprint race based on reverse grid order. He led the drivers from the start, before a skirmish with Jack Aitken resulted in both the drivers going off the track. When the drivers attempted to return to the racing line, Aitken pushed Mazepin into the path of Nobuharu Matsushita, and the resulting collision brought about a red flag. The race was subsequently shortened to 15 laps due to time constraints. When the race resumed, Ghiotto took the lead, ahead of Ilott and De Vries. While the Italian held on for a race win, de Vries overtook Ilott for second with Latifi and Guanyu Zhou completing the top five.[10]
De Vries ends the weekend with 266 points and won the driver's Championship ahead of Latifi on 194 points. The fight for the Teams’ Championship would go on to the final round as DAMS only had a 53 point lead over Virtuosi Racing.[9][10]
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