2022 FIA F2 Round 3 Imola Feature Race: 9th Place Finish For Jehan Daruvala

It was a story of what could have been for Jehan Daruvala, as the Prema Racing driver finished the feature race in ninth place at Imola. His teammate and fellow Red Bull junior driver, Dennis Hauger, was even more unfortunate as a lap 1 incident meant his race only lasted a few hundred metres.

Starting eighth, the Indian driver once again got a great start to climb to fifth position. And he was well poised for a potential podium or race win since he started on a harder compound of tyres and was set for a late race charge. But that alternative strategy came crashing down once the safety car came out.

That allowed the ones on the softer tyres to make their mandatory pitstop, so Daruvala wouldn’t be able to make up the time loss from his mandatory pitstop. Nonetheless, the Indian driver had a valiant drive, being comfortably the quickest driver on track while in the lead. 

When the Indian driver made his mandatory pitstop, he was yet again setting quick laps. Unfortunately another late race safety car period meant the Indian driver couldn’t make up much ground. Nonetheless, he recovered to ninth position at the end despite all the setbacks and managed to score an extra point via the fastest lap. 

While Jehan Daruvala had a bittersweet end to the race weekend, he had front running pace. The result keeps him third in the drivers standings.

Formula 2 will have yet another long break before we head to Barcelona, Spain for the fourth round of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship.