MEDIA RELEASE/FIA Formula 2 – Photos: f1.com

Championship leader Oscar Piastri became the first repeat polesitter of the season in Monza, finishing first in Qualifying for the second round in a row to add four more points to his title advantage. His main rival, Guanyu Zhou, was only 0.051s off pole but had to settle for third with Jehan Daruvala claiming his first front-row start of the season, missing out on pole by just 0.041s.

Théo Pourchaire led the field out onto the Monza tarmac, hoping to make the most of the clean air, but the Frenchman was down in 10th after the first lot of runs, despite a positive Sector 1.

It was Ralph Boschung, from the back of the pack, who slotted into first place at the end of that run, the Swiss driver punching in 1:32.609 to put his Campos at the front.

Championship leader Piastri – who was on pole last time out at Silverstone – found his bearings on the next tour, stealing first from Boschung by two tenths. Meanwhile, Free Practice’s fastest man, Dan Ticktum, had taken third.

After losing the Championship lead to Piastri in Silverstone, Zhou needed a big weekend in Italy, but the UNI-Virtuosi racer was lagging behind in P8 with 12 minutes to go. Heading to the pits for a fresh pair of Pirellis, Zhou managed to improve five places to third when he returned, but was still unable to challenge his main rival in P1.

Enough life remained in his tyres for a final attempt with two minutes to go and this time, Zhou did manage to beat Piastri. However, the Australian was just a few places further back in a slipstream fuelled train and managed to beat him by 0.051s, retaking his position at the top of the timesheet.

Daruvala benefitted from a slipstream himself to dive into second place and bump Zhou down to third, by a mere 0.016s. Only 0.202s separated the top five, with Liam Lawson in fourth and Felipe Drugovich fifth. Meanwhile, Boschung equalled his best Qualifying result at this level with sixth, ahead of Pourchaire and Ticktum.

Finishing 10th overall, David Beckmann will start ahead of Jüri Vips in Saturday’s reverse grid Sprint Race 1, which takes place at 8.50am local time.

1	Oscar Piastri	Prema Powerteam	12	1’32.199
2	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	12	1’32.240	0.041
3	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	12	1’32.256	0.057
4	Liam Lawson	HitechGP	12	1’32.383	0.184
5	Felipe Drugovich	UNI-Virtuosi	12	1’32.409	0.210
6	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	12	1’32.553	0.354
7	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	12	1’32.586	0.387
8	Dan Ticktum	Carlin	12	1’32.641	0.442
9	Jüri Vips	HitechGP	12	1’32.675	0.476
10	David Beckmann	Campos Racing	12	1’32.699	0.500
11	Lirim Zendeli	MP Motorsport	12	1’32.885	0.686
12	Robert Shwartzman	Prema Powerteam	12	1’32.942	0.743
13	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz Racing System	13	1’32.965	0.766
14	Marino Sato	Trident	12	1’33.023	0.824
15	Roy Nissany	DAMS	12	1’33.031	0.832
16	Jake Hughes	HWA Racelab	12	1’33.043	0.844
17	Marcus Armstrong	DAMS	13	1’33.054	0.855
18	Bent Viscaal	Trident	12	1’33.080	0.881
19	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	12	1’33.155	0.956
20	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	12	1’33.193	0.994
21	Guilherme Samaia	Charouz Racing System	13	1’33.478	1.279
22	Alessio Deledda	HWA Racelab	12	1’34.194	1.995

MORE MOTORSPORT NEWS…

• MAYHEM AT MONZA – ITALIAN F1 GP QUALIFYING

• F1 CHAMPION’S PERSONAL MESSAGE INSPIRES TEENAGE INDIGENOUS RACING TEAM

SUBSCRIBE TO VELOCITY MAGAZINE 

For all our news keep your eyes peeled on the Velocity Magazine website and social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for our daily updates and to get the latest edition of our glossy magazine subscribe here from just $55 for 12 months subscription.

GET OUR LATEST ISSUE NUMBER 40 HERE