Oliver Rowland takes his first F2 win in Monaco as Leclerc retires

In the Formula 2 Feature Race yesterday, Renault Formula 1 development driver Oliver Rowland scored a first Formula 2 victory in Monaco ahead of Artem Markelov and Nobaharu Matsushita in a disrupted feature race; as championship leader Charles Leclerc retired after leading early on.

At the start, Leclerc, who had been airing concerns about his car’s clutch on the grid, got off the line without issue. He then had to defend hard against Alexander Albon on the run to St Devote and locked up but was able to stay in front.

Leclerc had pulled out a 1.6-second lead over Albon when the safety car was deployed for the first time as Nicholas Latifi’s DAMS car stopped with smoke streaming from its engine in the tunnel.

Albon used the interruption to make an early switch to the super-softs, while Leclerc, Rowland, Markelov and Nobuharu Matsushita opted to stay out on their softs.

When the race restarted on Lap 12 of 41, Leclerc shot clear of Rowland in an attempt to pull a big enough gap to pit and rejoin ahead of Albon (who was seventh when the race resumed,) without losing track position.

The flat-out strategy looked to be working for Leclerc, who had raced to a 6.1s lead over Rowland, and 23.6s over Albon, when the second safety car period changed the race dramatically.

Campos Racing’s new signing Robert Visoiu and Louis Deletraz collided at Mirabeau and slid into the barriers on the outside of the track. Although Deletraz was able to reverse his Racing Engineering car out of danger, Visoiu was stranded and the safety car was deployed as the marshals craned it away.

Leclerc was called in by Prema Racing as soon as the incident occurred but before the safety car was sent out. Although he rejoined in front of Albon, when Rowland, Markelov and Matsushita pitted under the slower speed of the safety car, they were able to keep their positions at the front of the field and relegate the former race leader to fourth.

But things then got worse for Leclerc when his left-front wheel began vibrating dramatically and although he pitted again to get it checked, he was forced to retire with suspected suspension damage.

This then handed the race lead over to Oliver Rowland and he then dropped Markelov at the restart and managed to keep him behind for the remaining 15 laps to claim his first F2 win by 0.8s and cut Leclerc’s championship lead to three points.

Rowland finished ahead of Artem Markelov who finished in second place 0.864 seconds behind and ahead of Nobuharu Matsushita in third place 13.769 seconds behind Rowland.

Alexander Albion finished the race in a credible fourth place ahead of Luca Ghiotto in fifth place, Gustav Malja in sixth place, Nyck de Vries (who fought his way up from 14th on the grid) to finish in seventh place, Johnny Cecotto Jr in eighth (and will start on pole for the reverse-grid sprint race), Jordan King in ninth place and Sergio Canamasas in tenth place.

Antonio Fuoco finished the race out of the points in eleventh place ahead of Ralph Boschung in twelfth place, Sean Galael in thirteenth place, Nabil Jeffri in fourteenth place and Louis Deletraz in fifteenth place.

Sergio Sette Camara, Charles Leclerc, Norman Nato, Robert Visiou and Nicholas Latifi did not finish the race.

The classification of the Feature Race for the Monaco GP F2 race is as follows:-

1. Oliver Rowland, DAMS, 1.00:46.545s
2. Artem Markelov, RUSSIAN TIME, 0.864s
3. Nobuharo Matsushita, ART Grand Prix, 13.769s
4. Alexander Albion, ART Grand Prix, 19.738s
5. Luca Ghiotto, RUSSIAN TIME, 24.657s
6. Gustav Malja, Racing Engineering, 28.082s
7. Nyck de Vyres, Rapax, 28.453s
8. Johnny Cecotto Jr, Rapax, 29.125s
9. Jordan King, MP Motorsport, 45.552s
10. Sergio Canamasas, Trident, 46.581s
11. Antonio Fuoco, Prema Racing, 47.818s
12. Ralph Boschung, Campos Racing, 50.772s
13. Sean Gelael, Pertamina Arden, 53.694s
14. Nabil Jaffri, Trident, 1 lap
15. Louis Deletraz, Racing Engineering, 2 laps
16. Sergio Cette Camara, MP Motorsport, Not Classified
17. Charles Leclerc, Prema Racing, Not Classified
18. Norman Nato, Pertamina Arden, Not Classified
19. Robert Visoiu, Campos Racing, Not Classified
20. Nicholas Latifi, DAMS, Not Classified

Driving for Pleasure will be covering the Monaco F2 weekend with our race report alongside the latest news.

Picture supplied by the FIA Formula 2 World Championship

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa