Monaco F2: Hubert wins by less than a car length; Latifi 10th
DIFFICULT WEEKEND FOR LATIFI; DE VRIES CLOSES THE GAP TO LATIFI’S CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD
We had to wait until the last 5 laps to see some action at the front as Louis Deletraz kept pressuring leader Antoine Hubert into a mistake to make the pass.
Yesterday’s winner, Nyck De Vries, started 8th with Latifi 12th and other championship contender Luca Ghiotto having to start from the back of the grid after being disqualified from the results of Race 1.
Starting from pole with the reverse grid order from race 1, Hubert took the lead at the first corner. Followed by Deletraz, Zhou and Markelov who lost one place on the start. This group of four cars drove away form the rest of the field building a comfortable gap.
Monaco offering so little places to pass, it was more of a procession all race long. The race was interrupted three times due to contacts between cars. First one was Tatiana Calderon making contact with Luca Ghiotto. that sent her into the barrier. Then Luca Ghiotto again involved in a contact with Mahaveer Raghunathan. Ghiotto makin a late move on the inside at the Casino hairpin. Both cars ended their race there. The third incident was with Giuliano Alesi who got hit from behind by Sean Gelael and sent into a spin.
On every restart, Hubert timed his restart perfectly to keep a gap between Deletraz and himself. Meanwhile, Nicolas Latifi gained a couple of spots with cars ahead retiring from the race.
At the checkered flag, Antoine Hubert crossed the line 0.059 ahead of Louis Deletraz. Guanyu Zhou followed in third 0.863 behind Deletraz and Artem Markelov and Dorian Boccolacci completed the top 5. Canadian Nicolas Latifi finished in 10th place.
With 4 rounds completed, Nicolas Latifi(95 points) holds the championship lead by one point; Nyck De Vries(94 points) is second and Luca Ghiotto third with 67 points.
Image: Formula 2 Championship