Words: Zane Shackleton
Published 21 March 2022
Liam Lawson picked up his second Formula 2 podium in as many days and is one point off the championship lead after a runners-up finish in the Bahrain feature race.
The Kiwi moved into P2 with ten laps in hand. His chase of race leader Theo Pourchaire was then made significantly easier following a late safety car intervention.
A restart with two laps to go set up an enthralling finish, although the race had run past its time limit, and only one lap was completed.
Thus, Lawson settled for second as Pourchaire claimed maximum points and the series lead.
“Happy with the points, but obviously a little bit disappointed not to grab the win today,” Lawson said.
“I was probably close enough to go for a look, and I thought about it, but the Safety Car was so slow, and I had no brake temperature. I didn’t want to go and send it and have no brakes.
“So, I basically played it a little bit safe there, obviously a lot more to lose. I think having confidence on the brakes maybe I could have gone for something.”
Lawson ran the standard hard-to-soft tyre strategy, although several drivers chose to go the other way.
One of those was Marcus Armstrong, who started 13th and finished P5.
Armstrong was raring for a big result after a DNF on Saturday left the Kiwi rueing ‘what could have been.’
The soft tyres gave Armstrong a big edge in the opening laps. He was soon into the podium positions before making his one and only stop.
Once his pitstop was done, Armstrong resisted the assault of the soft tyre-shod cars behind him to finish inside the top five.
It is Armstrong’s first top-five since his win in Saudi Arabia last year. It is also his first with the Hitech GP team after swapping camps between seasons.
| Pos | Name | Gap |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Theo Pourchaire | 1.01m54.454s |
| 2 | Liam Lawson | +0.925s |
| 3 | Juri Vips | +1.714s |
| 4 | Ralph Boschung | +3.863s |
| 5 | Marcus Armstrong | +4.606s |
| 6 | Felipe Drugovich | +5.722s |
| 7 | Logan Sargeant | +6.539s |
| 8 | Roy Nissany | +7.256s |
| 9 | Jake Hughes | +8.008s |
| 10 | Jack Doohan | +8.854s |
| 11 | Enzo Fittipaldi | +10.074s |
| 12 | Marino Sato | +11.353s |
| 13 | Amaury Cordeel | +12.704s |
| 14 | Jehan Daruvala | +14.361s |
| 15 | Cem Bolukbasi | +15.965s |
| 16 | Ayumu Iwasa | +31.170s |
| 17 | Olli Caldwell | +1 lap |
| DNF | Calan Williams | |
| DNF | Dennis Hauger | |
| DNF | Richard Verschoor | |
| DNF | Clement Novalak | |
| DNF | Frederik Vesti |
