Trying To Flatten The Formula 2 Curve

After a two month break, the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship season is set to come to a close with back-to-back rounds in Bahrain. It will also cap off a rookie season for Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala, the only Indian on the current F2 grid. 

Looking back towards the last 10 rounds, it has been a steep learning curve for Daruvala from whom much was expected. Before racing resumes this weekend, we figure it is a good time to look at Daruvala's best and worst so far.

Highs

A Breakthrough In Russia

Possibly the biggest breakthrough of Daruvala’s F2 season was at Round 10 in Russia with the Indian driver looking strong all weekend. Jehan Daruvala qualified a season-best 2nd and was only 0.006 seconds away from his pole sitting teammate, Yuki Tsunoda. In the feature race, Daruvala was shadowing the leaders and tried an undercut strategy to fight for the race win. It didn’t pan out but he still finished a strong 5th in the end. It could’ve been another 5th place finish in the sprint race, but an unfortunate 5-second time penalty due to not rejoining the racetrack in a legal manner after he went off-track at turn 2 dropped him to 11th. Nonetheless, it was surely his best performance over an entire weekend so far.

Strategic Gamble Pays Off At Silverstone 

Jehan Daruvala’s round 4 at Silverstone was looking lacklustre with a 12th in the feature race, but the sprint race was a whole different ball game. The race started off as a slow burner with Daruvala locked in a close fight for the top 10 spot. But a safety car on lap 16 of 21 threw the second half of the race into chaos. 

Pitting under the safety car for a fresh set of medium compound tyres and with only four laps to go,  Jehan Daruvala sliced through the field with a late overtake for 4th on Nikita Mazepin at the final corner of the final lap to score his best finish of the season so far.  

Racy Hungary Comeback

It had all gone wrong in the initial stages of round 2 in Hungary for Jehan Daruvala, with a costly error in qualifying relegating him down to 15th. Even the feature race wasn’t looking too good initially as Daruvala was running 21st at one point. But the Indian driver was playing the long game by starting on the harder medium compound tyre.

After the eventually mandatory pitstop for the faster soft compound tyre, Daruvala made up huge ground on the field with three passes around the outside of the final corner enroute to a strong 6th place and his first points of the season. 

Lows

A Difficult Season Opener

Jehan Daruvala’s first F2 race weekend looked to have gotten off on a good note with a 6th place in qualifying. Unfortunately, that was the only high point of the entire race weekend as poor race starts contributed to a 12th place finish in the feature race and then a mid-race incident in the sprint race dropped him to 16th in the sprint race to make  it a weekend to forget. 

Struggles At Barcelona

The entirety of round 6 at Barcelona was gloomy for Jehan Daruvala was gloomy by qualifying 12th and losing more places off the line. Combine this with the fact that the circuit is a difficult place for overtaking, Daruvala was stuck in a long train upto 7th place. A safety car did help him go up to 10th place thanks to a one-stop strategy gamble, but he quickly fell down to 17th by the chequered flag. Much of the same occurred in the sprint race, with the  Indian driver finishing 17th. 

Tough Luck At Spa-Francorchamps

It was looking like a good bounce back after Barcelona, with 9th in qualifying at round 7 at Belgium. But an unfortunate first-lap incident sealed the rest of the Indian driver’s feature race, crossing the line in 19th place. The sprint race was looking like a great recovery job and was upto 13th at one point. But an incident with Marino Sato earned Daruvala a 10-second time penalty, pushing him down to 16th in the end and curtailing all the progress made. 

 

Overall, it has not exactly been a stellar rookie F2 season for Jehan Daruvala, but it has been an important learning experience as the Indian driver has been on a good run of results heading into Bahrain. Can Daruvala  end off his rookie year on a high with either a podium or even a win on the circuit he looked strong during pre-season testing?  All will be revealed once racing action kicks off with qualifying today at 18:45 IST.